Surprise!

Here we go, round 2!

We are beyond excited to add another little one to our family in September.

What's extra special about my due date is that my Mom's birthday was September 4th. Even though I'm sure I will be eating my words when I'm sitting here in Vegas in 110+ degree summer weather. However, it would be such a blessing to bring this little one into the world on my mom's birthday. 

We lost my mom to cancer last month. She was such an amazing mom, grandmother and teacher. I plan on designating a whole post or more to her amazing story of God's healing and her strong faith no matter what she went through. 

Stay tuned for weekly pregnancy updates, fun activities with my toddler and lots more!

Christmas time "was" here Part II

Christmas morning was full of Shannon feeling a little unsure of what was going on at first but then realizing something exciting was going to happen.
I had pictured her in my mind ripping all the presents while wrapping paper flew through the air. Didn't happen that way. Shannon would rip the paper piece by piece and then hand each piece to me. Pretty hilarious! She then got the hang of it and opened the rest of the presents at regular speed. We then finished our morning by eating the "traditional" ham and eggs breakfast.All in all, great Christmas and great memories.

Santaaaa!

 

So again like I said in the previous post, December was just crazy. We finally saw Santa Claus at our local shopping center at 3:00pm on Christmas Eve. Oh well, I'm just glad we actually did it.

 

I'm so glad the picture turned out well because the beginning didn't go as smooth. As we stood in line, waiting for our turn with Santa, Shannon took one look away from the elf that was talking with us and saw an old man sitting down in a chair waving. She flipped out! I mean, trying to climb me, pulling my shirt and hair. Luckily Santa's a pro and he had the suggestion of us sitting in his chair while he hid behind us. She finally cooled down and even though Santa looks like he's photobombing our picture... at least everyone is happy. 

Good thinking Santa!

 

"Christmas time "was" here..." Part 1

I love that song! I always catch myself singing that song throughout the month of December and maybe even a little after. I have to say that the whole month was just go, go, go constantly for us. I had so many fun things planned and wanted Shannon to experience before the new year. I also had to remind myself to be relaxed and enjoy all of the chaos fun adventures. That word "adventure" will always be stuck in my mind as a positive way to describe a chaotic moment. That ones from my mom who would always say "Well that was an adventure!" after every crazy moment. Like, leaving at 5 am for Disneyland and almost hitting the fence as we turned a quick right. Yeah, we were all running on adrenaline for the next hour.

Anyways, this month was fun but jam packed with activities to get us in the holiday spirit. Here's my quick review of our trip to Disneyland.

 

We were blessed to be able to spend it with Lee's parents and his Aunt & Uncle. What great memories! Plus... loved the extra help!

 

Just like her first time at Disneyland, Shannon loved the parades. She loved seeing all of the characters and brightly colored floats. I even caught her waving a couple of times.

 

 The second morning, we ate breakfast at Ariel's Grotto where you met the princesses. Shannon hasn't seen any of the Disney movies (except Toy Story) but she was in awe of their beautiful dresses. Can I just say that Snow White is my new Fave! Funny story... we sat in a booth in the back corner of the restaurant and it was decorated as "under the sea" for Ariel. We sat down and noticed that Shannon kept pointing to the picture (which was pretty abstract) behind us. She kept saying "What's that?!" Well during every visit from the princesses, Shannon kept repeating "what's that?" "what's that?" while also pointing to the picture. Snow what was the only one to really understand what she was doing and she even played along. She also stayed at our table extra long! I LOVE HER! Needless to say though that all of our pictures involve Shannon pointing away from the princesses. 

 This picture is extra special because during our first trip to Disneyland back during the summer, we bought her the Minnie Mouse version of this stuffed animal. Luckily they were still carrying the Mickey's and I noticed they only had a handful left so we just had to pick it up asap! They told me at checkout that they were going to stop carrying these and making them all together.

 

This was such a special moment during this trip because these characters literally came up to Shannon. We were standing outside the Mad Hatter's shop after buying her her first Mickey Ears and were just waiting for Lee to come back from buying her a shirt (because it was way hotter than we had packed for). Anyways, this was our last thing before heading home and it became one of the most memorable. Embarrassing moment: I totally teared up when Minnie came because we didn't ask her, she just came up and gave her a kiss and said hi and then walked to the back for her break. Pluto also did the same! AMAZING! 

Disneyland was fun but absolutely packed with people. I'm talking 1hour 1/2 wait for It's a Small World. Yeah, I'll pass. Like I said though, we cherish these types of moments and I'm so glad I captured them.

 

How cute are these ears?! I was seriously tempted to buy some for myself. But I just wore Shannon's on the way home.

 

This picture sums it up pretty well. We absolutely had a blast...

Family Pictures

 

The day after Thanksgiving was the perfect opportunity to take family pictures (that would also be used in our Christmas card). I was so thankful that Lee's parents came down to celebrate with us and that we captured these moments. It isn't very often that I find myself in front of the camera but I am thankful that we now have these to cherish for years. I couldn't pass up on the beautiful setting in our backyard. It was literally a 5 minute drive from our house. Red Rock was the perfect spot! 

Happy Halloween! (Yeah it's a really late post)

Well, since I've been so bad at blogging lately. Here is a recap of Shannon's 2nd Halloween.

Shannon had a blast running around the "pumpkin patch". I use quotations because its literally an empty parking lot filled with wood chips and stacks of hay. But... I shouldn't complain, I just miss going to an actual pumpkin patch where they grow their own pumpkins.

From these pictures, you can clearly tell how much Shannon "enjoyed" carving the pumpkins. It was a mess and a little chaotic but worth it in the end. We picked up a massive pumpkin filled with a ton of seeds just so that Lee could roast them. Mmm, this is making me crave it all over again.

We went as Alice in Wonderland this year! Shannon being Alice, Lee as the Mad Hatter and myself as the Cheshire cat. Flynn was going to be the Rabbit but, he wasn't having it. Shannon did really well with the trick or treating. We only went down our street and came straight home to host a small get together with our friends and pass out candy to trick or treaters. Oh yeah, I made all of our costumes, except for Lee's hat and jacket. It was a lot of work and I even almost lost a finger over Shannon's costume but it was totally worth it in the end. We received a lot of compliments from our neighbors.

Shannon's First Vacation

It's almost 2 months later and I'm just now finding the time to post these pictures. (Life of a Mommy!)
We had a blast spending time with everyone on both sides of the family. We met my family in LA and experienced the craziness of Disneyland during the 4th of July weekend. We were able to celebrate my Dad's birthday at the Happiest Place on Earth and meet my Aunt Cheryl and cousins (who I haven't seen since our wedding 4 years ago!)

From here we stopped by Lee's Aunt and Uncle's house for brunch and drove back to Bakersfield. Then the following Monday we drove out to the coast and spent the next 5 days at our favorite beach town. Cayucos! Grandma & Grandpa Worthey drove all the way out to spend a day with us at the beach. It was nice to have an extra pair of hands and eyes to help look over Shannon and keep her from eating handfuls of sand (yes, she enjoyed eating it!) Even though the baby girl was teething during this whole trip, it was still a vacation that we'll never forget and always cherish.