Swarthouts, sand and surfboards in San Diego (lots of photos)

Last weekend we went down to San Diego for a Swarthout family reunion. We took our gang and met up with everyone at a beach/park in Chula Vista.

The Swarthouts are a big family. When you have 6 kids and each of them has a couple of kids and some of them have a couple of kids, the numbers add up quickly! I love Ryan's family though. They are all so nice and have made me feel like a part of the family from day one!

The kids had a great time playing with their cousin, Dakota, who is Ryan's brother Jeff's daughter. She is about to turn 4. Bella and Dakota played with their barbies, my little ponies and princesses. It was very cute! The boys did a lot of tree climbing, swimming in the ocean (the water was soo warm), learning how to surf, and riding their bikes. We had a fantastic day and it was so good to spend time with family and friends! Here are some pics! Click to enlarge.

My tree climbing monkey

Bella and Dakota in the chef gear GG Pat gave them. Aren't the cute?!

Beautiful scenery with Coronado Island in the background. Don't you wish you were on that boat?

Riley practicing his stance before he takes to the water.

Paddling out

Everybody was surfin', surfin' USA!

Is it just me or does he look like a natural?

My beach bunny

Funny with daddy!

Beautiful end to a great day!

A Tale of Two...Layouts

We went to Morro Bay on Sunday so I could scout locations for upcoming photoshoots. We had a blast there, hung out on the beach, collected seashells, walked along the embarcadero and had a yummy dinner at Duckie's in Cayucos. Here are two layouts I did yesterday while Riley was home sick. Which one do you like best and why? Click to enlarge.

Sick kid= clean house and digiscrap!

Riley is home sick today. Well, not sick exactly, he has a raging headache. Luckily for him, his head does not hurt so bad that he cannot watch every Star Wars movie ever made. I swear that kid is obsessed!

After cleaning the downstairs of our house this morning, I decided to play on the computer. I am making birth announcements for two of my friends who just had babies. Here are the announcements I have made so far (no, their stats are not right, I just plugged in #s until I got the real ones). Keep in mind, the resolution is not very high so the file size would be smaller and easier to upload. Click to enlarge (you knew I was going to say that didn't you...)

Know anyone having a baby soon? Send them my way!! This is way fun!

Also, I made this layout of Bella's birthday and think it is sooo cute I just had to share!

Mommy daughter day AKA: my attempt to make Bella girly

(enlarge this pic to see Bella's new earrings)

Most of you who know my daughter know she is a tomboy through and through. She loves horses, hates to wear skirts, would rather play legos with Riley than play with her Barbies, etc. I don't know why it bothers me, I was the same way when I was a little girl. Maybe it is because I have my boy and I want my little girl to let me have tea parties with her, braid her hair and play dress up. Ya, fat chance!

Two weeks ago we walked in to WalMart and they had a table set up with lots of goodie bags on it and balloons. They were doing free earpiercing with the purchase of a pair of their earrings. I had tried to get Bella to get her ears pierced at the fair, and even bought her a pair of horsey earrings to wear. No luck, she was afraid it would hurt. Of course it hurts, but I wasn't going to tell her that! This time, I was smart. I said, "Look Bella, if you get your ears pierced they give you a goodie bag filled with candy." Magic word- candy!!! She sat down, picked out a cute little pair of pink studs (okay okay, she wanted the blue ones but I persuaded her to get the pink ones) and said she was ready!

She cried. She cried for about 60 seconds and then said, "Can I have my candy now?" That's my girl!!!!

I was so excited by her venture into girliness that I told Ryan I was taking her for some mommy daughter time and we went to get pedicures. Can you guess what kind of nail polish she picked out? No, not blue, but green sparkles. No pink, red, etc. Green. Ugh! She wasn't too thrilled with watching me get mine done (she had her pedi first) until I asked for a flower on my toe. She loooved that. When the technician finished with me, they redid Bella's so she could have a flower. They took off her green (woohoo) and painted hers a hot pink to match mine, added a flower and called it a day! We sat under the weird black light dryer thingies for a few minutes then went home to show off our pretty feet to the boys.

Hooray!!! Now, if I could only get her to wear a dress!

It's Fair Time!

Most of you know that I love the fair! For me, it is a chance to show my photography, have a blast with the kids, eat crappy food and see good concerts!


This year, my photos did not do as well as usual and I was pretty bummed about that. But, we saw two great concerts; Matchbox 20 and Fergie! They were both a lot of fun and a good chance to spend some adult time with friends. I didn't eat too much junk, just some yummy gelato and lots of garlic fries!


Of course, the kids had a blast! Here are some photos of our time at the fair. Note, I cannot show pictures of our foster boys here for privacy reasons but they were with us and had a blast too!


Click photos to enlarge.

Too cute!

Giddyup!

Truckin'

She LOVED this ride! Check out her hair!

Weeee!