Old Friends Play in the Bay!

One of my favorite friends road-tripped it up from San Clemente to visit and we EXPLORED the Bay.

That aquarium is stunning and so educational! The kids had a blast and Colleen and I were utterly exhausted!!! But the next morning we rallied and walked to the coolest little park and the kids kept the party going…

Later that day, back in the East Bay…

These two friends had the BEST time playing and fit right in at the zoo…

I feel blessed to have such GREAT Friends who in the digital friendship age, make a huge effort to come visit! To see our kids LOVING to play together is perfect for us since this means that we get to sit back, have a drink, and watch…lord knows, we need one.

Museum Spoiled!

The East Bay is truly missing a great Children’s Museum and believe me, I’ve searched far and wide. Today we checked out Habitot out in Berkeley, and I was pretty disappointed; it was tiny, smelled odd, took 45 minutes to park and was an hour drive in traffic.

But the boys did have fun for awhile  while I tried to adjust my sour grapes attitude of annoyance.

If anything, I got some cute pics of the boys being their silly selves, and I felt grateful for the amazing opportunity we had in Houston last year, home of the best Children’s Museum in the country. Not shockingly, the boys were ready to leave after about 30 mins as well. So yes, I fully admit we are all museum spoiled!  Here’s to hoping the East Bay will one day follow in Houston’s footsteps.

Rain, Rain, Don’t Go Away!

Gus and I are both solar-powered, humidity-loving sun-worshippers, but even we appreciate a lil’ rain now and then! A shower here and there is all the Bay has gotten all winter. A rainy day walk seemed fitting since who knows when it will be back!

And not surprisingly, it was just a little sprinkle now and then, but the boys still LOVED the whole “crazyness” of taking a rainy walk into downtown. Please come back soon, Rain! WE NEED YOU!!!

Coach Argenal’s 6th Man

I must give a shout out to the best 6th man team around. Family, friends, past players, and even old co-workers ventured into Pioneer territory this season to cheer on Gus in his first year.

And who can forget his two biggest fans?

Gus is so lucky to have such a powerful and loving 6th man behind him! Go Pioneers!

Valentine’s Flash Back

V-day 12 years ago was our very first date. Gus took me to Barnes and Nobles (pic below) while we waited for our reservation at Bandera. I remember it like yesterday. It makes me literally laugh out loud to think about how young we were and how much fun we had that night.

We have a lot more wrinkles now, and I have way more gray hair (Gus only has 1 or 2, unfair!), but every memory we have was built upon that first date. February 14th is a day perhaps more important (albeit cheesy) than any other day of our lives. Thankful for every single day with Gus since. Cheers to all of us that have found a forever love!

Bo Knows Preschool

Two different Preschools in one year? No problem. This boy was FIRED UP to say the least about his new school in Pleasanton and especially for the new friends he would meet.

Nevermind my giant thumb in the left corner, but this pic perfectly conveys the enthusiasm this boy has for learning and his fearlessness of new social situations. Bo knows how to make this change easy on his parents, though, we both still cried!

Later, Hayward

Its no secret to anyone who’s talked with me about Hayward, that it wasn’t a good fit for our young family.  After scouring the east bay, I quickly fell in love with Pleasanton and we actually found something available right away. The only problem? It was right in the middle of season…so I called on the strongest women I know, some tireless Turners.

Though Katels isn’t in this pic, she equally helped out, and even Reece and Capri joined the chaotic moving party. Momma and Katels, you are simply the BEST. And Momma, I can’t stop laughing about the mattress.

Before Gus arrived in the bay after a grueling double loss roadtrip, we had the family sign up (compliments of Suzanne and Justin), the furniture laid out and even a few boxes emptied in our new Townhouse in downtown P-Town.

I had to include this little pic on our last morning in Hayward. One of the things we did all love were all the deer that visited us daily, and it looks like they came one last time to say goodbye.

So we surprised Gus when he arrived back to the Hayward house ready to move in the pouring rain, and instead he found the house sparkling clean and empty. I couldn’t have done it without my amazing family of strong, selfless women and some very generous Mormon Missionaries (new neighbors who saw us unloading and offered help)!!! It was way harder than we could’ve imagined and we were EXHAUSTED to say the least, but Gus’s utter SHOCK and sincere appreciation made it all worth it.

Now it’s time to hit up the hot tub; apartment living has it’s perks!

2014 Grammy Awards

Bucket List. Check that one off. Gus and I both absolutely LOVE music and to be given the opportunity to go the the biggest awards show for music was a once-in-a-lifetime.

Molly and Mike’s good friends were kind enough to include us on this amazing night; I’ve never felt more glamorous and all out GIDDY the entire NIGHT! And look at my hot date:

One the coolest parts of the whole experience was the month leading up to it to find our outfits; my girlfriends, my sisters and even my mom and mother-in-law gave me their input and excited ideas. It was so fun just to get the opportunity to dress up, not to mention go a live concert of some of the best collaborations ever!!!

Renttherunway.com was good to us, and I highly recommend it for any event. Our trio of dresses ended up being quite patriotic, and this was not on purpose. This pic is simply the BEST, because we felt like celebs and we stopped traffic to pose here…luckily, because there was no traffic, we didn’t get hit. ; ) !

We had an UNBELIEVABLE crew, and we made some lifelong friends that we still keep in touch with. That’s probably the highlight of the whole night.

Look at all these Dapper Dads!

And these ladies, I can’t say enough about. They all possess the kind of Beauty that radiates from the inside out. They are so much fun, such kind-hearted women; my only regret is that we don’t live closer.

And what an entertaining experience it was to see the real red carpet, behind all the smoke and mirrors!

Of course, we had to take a quick pose in front of the infamous Grammy sign on the red carpet. I’m just not sure why I thought I needed to bend down to get in the shot? hmmmm. Maybe I was star-struck.

The awards show was more like a concert, and it was absolutely hands-down the best live music event I’ve ever been to. Beyonce and Jay-z got pretty crazy in the opening scene, and then Pink did acrobatics above us, Daft Punk and Pharrel lit up the stage, and we had a great view of John Legend singing “All of Me” to his wife under the spotlight. It was 3 hours of beautiful music including some legends like Paul and Ringo, and the very old Highway Men; I wish I could go back every year.

And the cherry on top? Meeting the star of one of my vices, reality TV (it’s so bad, it’s good). Tom, the bartender from Vanderpump Rules was so nice and later we even got a private tour from the owner of the restaurant! I think it had something to do with Guillermo’s obsession with the Lady in Red, the true superstar of the night, Katels.

Besides being in starvation mode from 11am until 9pm (no food during filming), everything was perfection. I would love to go back, but if we never do, we made amazing memories to last. We can’t thank Dan and Valishia enough for including us.

January: Beach Day in the Bay?

We have had the mildest winter I can ever remember in my entire NorCal life and we are taking full advantage of the sun and record temps! This is a day I will never forget (but just in case, I am blogging about it, too) because it was a random trip to Alameda and it was simply FUN FUN FUN!

While we were there for a few hours the tide completely changed and the beach transformed into kiddie pools and sandbars and within minutes my boys were pants-less!

When I look at these pics, I can hear their preschool laughter, unabashed, unfiltered, and unrestrained; it fills my heart. May I never forget that sound…

I am ABSOLUTELY falling in love with the bay.

Pioneer Pride

Season is underway and as usual, we can’t wait until the weekend to watch Gus’s games. I love this pic below and feel so much happiness when I see him succeeding in his dream career.  It fills my heart with pure joy that he is already becoming such a dedicated, passionate and loving Coach in his first year.