a day in santa monica.

how long is eden's hair now? i just chopped it too. she is not into pictures these days. oh the two year olds!

my mom at the santa monica plane crash site a few months ago. so incredibly sad.

we got to bring my nephew, braden. isn't he the cutest?

sweet hat hair, molly. hahaha!

the real picture. mmhmm.

waving g'bye to daddy when he got a call

eden climbed to the top of this tower at least a dozen times. my poor mom chasing her. heheha.

this was one of of my husband's last shifts at this particular station, so we took full advantage on sunday & came to be tourists for the day. (he'll still be in santa monica, dont you worry, just moving to a busier station where it won't be as easy to visit.)

the day was full of lunch at urth cafe, a fun ride around the airport in the rig, squirting the fire hose, running a muck all around the station, dressing up in their duds & laughing til we cried, playing at the park, dinner at gilberts, & not hitting any traffic there or back! a bonus, trust me. 

california weather right now is dang gorgeous & we couldn't of picked a better day to soak in the city. 

i still look around when i'm there in awe of all God did to get us there. it was a long hard crazy road for sure, but one that stretched us & shaped us. it is definitely one of my favorite treats in life to watch my husband in his element at the fire station now. i felt pretty cool being next to a local celebrity at the park ;) plus, good lawd is he a looker in that uniform. ye-ow. makes me incredibly grateful that tim gets to work somewhere he loves & enjoys. thank you, Jesus!

until next time, santa monica! stay weird (like me!) & beautiful!

ps. i blogged this from my phone & now the pics are all wonky & driving me crazy pants. ahs well ;)

san jose, or bust.

ice hockey, basketball, soccer, oh my!

we got to go to our first ever fire olympics last week.

so. much. fun.

[even though we lost every event. haha. good try, boys. maybe next year, right?]

smfd kids. stolen from lauren. hehe.

we like the elevator pics. haha!

oh, you know, just passing nap time by staring at ourselves in the ol' iphone.

stopped at pismo beach on the way home. i could've stayed for forever.

lauren snapped these of me & my [then] almost 6 year old. i will forever treasure them.

another goodie stolen from lauren's instagram. you gotta watch me. wink.

some things i want to remember:

the long 8+ hour drive into the night.

a pit stop with my lorieloo.

the rug rats theme song.

 [prolly not the best choice for a cartoon, but thank you, ipad, for saving our trip!]

the drunk driving accident we saw & my brave, heroic husband in action.

gas station potty breaks. ew.

the road trip scenery.

and snacks.

but oh, the scenery.

especially the beach part on the ride home.

the weather.

the people.

the kids.

the sea of fire hat stickers on everyone's car in the parking lot ;)

a&e's smile everyday when they realized we're still here! we're staying another night!

the pool.

hotel breakfast in our pjs.

spaghetti factory & dave+busters with a whole lot of new friends.

eden sleeping in 'til 10am with the dark hotel curtains.

singing at the top of our lungs to worship music all the way home.

pismo beach.

sand crabs as big as your hand.

okay, all of it.

we had so much fun!

everyone was so welcoming & nice to us newbies ;) we met a lot of great people. feeling blessed to be apart of this group, for sure.

until next time, san jose.
we're comin' back for you.

next up! a&e's 4 birthday parties. stay tuned.