Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Yea! Friends!

We have officially been here 3 months. That's 3 months with no Chuys, no Grimaldi's, and not many girls' night outs. You would need girl friends for that, right?

It has been 3 months of good family time, lots of exploring, and some "pinch me, do we really live here?"

All that aside, we are really starting to enjoy our new normal, but missing friends doesn't go away. So it's a good thing we'll be back to visit in April!

In the meantime, we're making new friends and loving the chance to see old ones.
Andy and I hung out with some of our "new" friends on Friday, Jeremy and Jennifer. We have not drank that much wine laughed that hard in a long time. It was great.

Saturday morning we decided to go for a run. Not one of the best laid plans after the night before. We went for a run on the beach all the way to the donut shop. Then we ran back to our car and drove straight to In N Out Burger. So as of Monday, all 2 pounds I had lost from my New Year's Resolutions were kaput.
Good thing I'm back on the wagon now.

Then Saturday afternoon, our good friends, Brian & Suzanne, and their little son, Desmond drove down from L.A. to see us. It was so great to see them. Andy and Brian's pledge brother, Ryan, who lives in San Diego joined us as well.

You see that Pioneer Woman cookbook open? That might be why the 2 pounds creeped back on. That and the donuts. No, I only had one bite. Oh, crap. Darn the In N Out burger.

Addison played with Desmond a little bit although we are having an extremely difficult time sharing lately.
"Mine" is her favorite word.
Graham loved playing with Desmond.
Can you tell they wanted to go outside?
Such good sharing....


Addison showed Desmond some of her dress up clothes. Good thing he didn't seem to mind. He is going to have a little baby sister come March.

To say that Desmond loved Harley would be a huge understatement. Huge.
Big brother in training...
And...
I'm going to get to see Suzanne again this weekend because....
it's a girls' weekend in Cabo!
We are celebrating the newest little Watson's arrival and since it's a girl, why not make it an all girl party?

So yes, do the math.
One parent in Cabo.
One parent at home. Two kids.
4 days.
Pray for him people.
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Monday, January 17, 2011

Beach Babes

MLK Day or Memorial Day??

I mean, it's still January, right?
The beach was packed today!

and it was definitely bathing suit weather....
for the kids, I mean.
Cause you know, I don't do bathing suits in January.
My kids are quickly turning into California loving babes.

and it's starting to win me over a little bit too.
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Friday, January 14, 2011

Open House


We're finally settled in and ready to have all of our friends over!
Oh, wait....you can't manage a plane flight just yet?

I have been asked to share pictures from a few people and have felt weird about it, but since many of you may not ever be able to make the get away.....

Well, you can still stop by and take a look.
Here is our virtual "open house".

First, drive down our street.

Once the road curves, our house is on the right.

C'mon. Park the car and come on in!

I love, love our front door.
Our house-hunting trip back in August was done once we walked inside.

This is what you see when you walk in.
Your room is to the right.
The guest room is the only bedroom on the first floor, so you'll be far away from the chaos.
And we're running a special this month.
Well pretty much the next four years.
Free.

So c'mon, book the flight already.

When you walk out of the guest room and turn to the right, you go into the living room.
This is Andy's favorite room in the house.
I love it because it's so cozy.

You could walk through the living room to the left to go to the dining room, but let's go this way.
Back down the main hallway.
Guest bathroom is on the left if you need it.

At the end of the hall on the left is my second favorite room in the house.
I absolutely love what the previous owners did to it.

I can wash dishes and look out into the backyard, which you'll see more of in a sec.
First, I want to show you my favorite room, just off the kitchen.
So to the right of the main hallway.

I love, love, love this room.
The kids can play and go in and out into the backyard, and I can keep an eye on them when I'm cooking in the kitchen.

From the playroom, you can look into the dining room. This used to have a wall in between, but the former owners took it out and I'm so glad they did.

Here is our dining room.
This used to be our breakfast table, but I had the table refinished back in Houston and I LOVE how it turned out. It's like a whole new piece of furniture!

To the right of the table is a little reading nook. I wanted to get rid of this couch because I didn't think we were going to have a place for it, but I'm so glad that Andy convinced me to keep it. It's a perfect place to relax and read a magazine and keep an eye on the kids.

I'm sitting on that same couch right now taking this picture.

Alright, let's go outside. The weather is finally beautiful.
The weatherman told me this morning that it would be "summer like" weather today with temperatures reaching the 70s.
So, um Houston friends, you want to book that plane ticket this summer?

You can walk out the back from either the kitchen or the playroom.
Here is part of our patio area.
Looking from our backyard up the hill. The landscaping makes it feel so private.
Hot tub is in the back left.
Looking from the hot tub to the left. Koi pond on the left. The fish are still alive!
Looking towards the door that leads back into the playroom.
Kitchen windows
Ok, let's go back inside.
Heading back towards the front from the kitchen.
C'mon upstairs.
Our room is up by the front of the house.
I love the layout because we were able to put our desk here since we don't have an office.
This is our bathroom. Random that I'm showing it to you, I know, but the former owners gutted it. There used to be a gold framed bath tub, and they have now made it a huge shower.
There is a double sink, but that's Andy's side that's not in the picture, and there is a reason for that.
If you look out our bedroom window, you can see glimpses of the valley. The ocean is not in view but it's about 3 miles to the left.
If you come out our room and go down the hall, this is what you see.
Addison's room is down on the left and Graham's on the right.
Kid bath to the left.
You want to see her room?
Yeah, a cheap way of getting a shot I love of her in.
I LOVE how her room turned out.
Andy questioned me when we painted it blue.
"You're painting a girl's room blue?"
But it worked!
This is maybe my favorite picture of her ever. I've posted it before, but it kills me every time I see it because it so captures her personality.
So back to her room....

My mom painted this painting for Addison's big girl room along with a few other paintings in our house. She is super talented and I love how she signed it, "Nana".
Addison hanging out in her reading corner.

We were able to use her letters from her nursery again and I think they go perfectly above her closet.
I haven't done much to this guy's room yet because I want to wait to decide what to do as far as paint and stuff for his big boy room. Can't believe I'm already saying that....

The room is a nice size though so they have a little play area that they like to hang out in which also allows mommy to get a shower in. =)
Well, that's pretty much it. We are looking forward to having visitors, so take this as your invitation to come out anytime! I'll have your glass of wine waiting.....
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