Baby Shower Time!

I am feeling so overwhelmed with gratitude for the generosity of my family & friends. I already had a wonderful baby shower in AZ, and then this last weekend my friends from church threw me a shower here in LA. So nice! Then, if you can even believe it my bff and sister threw me a virtual shower for all of my far, far away friends and family. Seriously, I cannot tell you how special I felt seeing this outpouring of love for my little boy. Thank you to everyone who planned, baked, coordinated, emailed,   gifted, and participated in any way! Love to you all!!

Here is a quick recap of my wonderful shower thrown by my friends from church. The theme was "Little Man" so it was full of adorable bowties and mustaches.

It was such a fun night! Going with the theme of the evening, we even played 'Match the stash" which was hilarious trying to figure out which celebrity each famous mustache belonged to.

 Everyone was so unbelievable generous, out little man it totally set!

 Delicious cupcakes and the cutest party favors, little chocolate mustaches : )

My friends really are the best!

I have to admit, I had never heard of a virtual shower before, so I really didn't know how it would all play out, but it was so much fun! For the couple weeks leading up I got tons of packages and it really got me excited seeing all the mail from my far away friends.

Then on the day of, I set up the decorations my family sent me, and we did a google hangout so they could see me open the gifts.

I know its gonna sound cheesy, but sometimes I really love the internet.  Sometimes, just seeing someone's face while talking to them makes such a difference in feeling connected.

And if a million wonderful gifts weren't enough, they also sent a bucket of all my favorite treats and ordered cupcakes from this local shop that are literally the best cupcakes I have ever eaten!

Christmas in AZ

So this year for christmas we went to AZ to spend the holidays with Mason's family.

We were in serious vacation mode, which means I have very few pictures, but whatever. It was a great time getting to hang out with all of Mason's family, going out to eat, going to the movies, taking lots of naps and just doing whatever, whenever. Such a needed break from work!

Loving my new iphone case from Plum Street Prints, and all of the amazing Christmas decor at my MIL's house. 

Mason napping with the sweetest dog ever.

 Remember this little guy? We got to go visit him at his new home in Queen Creek, I can't believe how big and gorgeous he is getting. You have never seen a happier kitty just loving his new home!

 Loved spending all day, everyday with this guy!

 We drove up to the Las Sendas neighborhood to look at the beautiful houses and watch the sunset.

And of course, we made a quick trip to see the Mesa Temple Lights.

Little Brother Visits

So even though my younger brother is like a foot taller than me, I still call him my little brother. He got to come out and visit us for a week before christmas and we had a blast! During the day he shadowed Mason at work and learned all about what we do and all the awesome neighborhoods we get to work in LA. 

And our evenings were filled with go kart racing, a trip to the temple, and of course, taking him to all our favorite restaurants. So much fun having him!

 Belly shot in line at Tito's Tacos.

Temple & Shamshiri

More mexican food, at El Ranchito in Newport.

 Go Karts

 The highlight of the trip was of course when the boys went out to Glamis for a couple days. It was Cody's first time out in the dunes and needless to say he had the time of his life!

A Weekend In AZ

A weekend trip to AZ is always jam packed with family and friends and this trip was no exception. The  original reason for the trip was for a C10 get together in Phoenix with Mason's car buddies and the Good Guys car show. But of course my amazing in laws took the opportunity to throw me a baby shower. (Which I took absolutely no pictures of, grr)

It was so sweet of them and it was so much fun. We had Mi Amigo's catering, which means I go to chow down on the best chips & salsa, bean mini chimis and of course green corn tamales!

The rest of the trip was spent relaxing, hanging out with family and of course shopping. I had awesome luck at Last Chance and scored a ton of cute shoes.

And I got to pick up our fancy, schmancy art work done by a talented young lady who lives in Mesa. They turned out so darling and I am thinking I want to hang them in the nursery.

Trial Run

You can never be totally ready to have a kid, but babysitting our nephew for a weekend sure is a good way to get some practice in!

This little man is the happiest boy ever, which makes it pretty easy and I am hoping our little one takes after him!

He came out with us on our date night to Cafe Rio. 

Dog Gus loved all the cheerios and goldfish baby Gus would "share" with him. As soon as the high chair came out, 100% of his attention was on Gus. 

To say that he loves his Uncle Mason is such an understatement. He is kind of obsessed with him. Whatever Mase was doing, he wanted to be a part of. Even a little P90X action. So hilarious.  

While it was exhausting chasing him around all day, I have to say it makes me so excited for our little one. I mean he is just my nephew and I am so in love with him, I can't even imagine how much love I will have for the one I cooked in my belly. Ok, last dose of cuteness....

Dr. Dolittle's got nothing on me!

I am an animal lover. That is no big surprise. But what does continue to surprise me is the amount of animals in distress that I encounter. At least once a month I find a dog wandering loose in the neighborhood (with our without tags) and find a way to return it home. It's like I am a magnet for any creature in need of help.

As I was riding my bike to the post office with my dog, I hear the most startling cry coming from the tiniest kitten you have ever seen, all alone in an office building parking lot. I called Mason, who came to the rescue with a cardboard box and a towel and I scooped him up. My vet said he was about 4 weeks old and about a day from death, his eyes were glued shut with goop, had a really bad cold, and he had so many fleas on him his blood was all but sucked dry. I took this photo after a few days on antibiotics, when he started to finally look better.

After a week of medicine and all the food he could eat, he started to come back to life. His nose was finally pink and while I could still feel every bone in his little body, he was gaining weight. Crisis averted! Within another few weeks he had put on a full pound and starting playing and running around like crazy. 

The next step was finding him a home, which is always the trickiest part. I shamelessly posted (and reposted) him on facebook and Mason's Aunt who lives in Arizona fell in love with his little face. She came out to CA and picked him up. (And I stole these photos from her : )

I am happy to report he now has the absolute best home and a new bff showing him the ropes out in AZ!

5 years? Say What?!

Time really does fly when you are having fun because I cannot believe that it has been 5 years since I married this guy.

To celebrate we spent the day out at Oak Glen picking apples and enjoying the little colonial town.

 How hilarious is this? This guy really stands by his product! ; )

 Lucky for Mason, we drove the prius, or I would have sweet talked him into buying me some of this gorgeous wood for my next project.

After we ate some good ole home cooking we then headed back to Long Beach for the main event.....

 BAND OF HORSES! It was such an amazing show in a really awesome venue in San Pedro. They played all my favorite songs and we were in absolute heaven!

It was a great day celebrating. Without hesitation the best 5 years of my life. I am married to the best man in the whole world and I cannot wait to embark on this new adventure of parenthood together. Love you babe!