Flashes from our Fourth

We broke tradition this year, and instead of attending my family's annual Sausage Fest, we did our own thing.

Some of our friends didn't have any plans, so we had them over in the afternoon for some bbq'ing and swimming.

I'm huge with tradition, so it was bitter-sweet to switch things up.

Our friends, Kaleb and Kristin have a daughter, Brinley, who is 3 weeks older than Jack.

We joke that it is an arranged marriage.

Kristin and I tried so hard to get a pic of both of them, but it was a fail.

Individual ones of Jack weren't much better...

 

This was Jack's second time in the pool.

The first time was a complete bust.

Here was his reaction.

 

This next time was a little better, but he was still not loving the water.

He lasted about five minutes in the floatie.

The rest of the time he had to be held by one of us, while whimpering most of the time.

I don't get it.

He loves the bath, splashes and sings.

The pool is like a big bath, buddy. Get with it.

Our friends Alex and Melanie also came over with their 5 day old daughter, Clara Lane.

I forgot to get a picture of that little cutie.

That evening, we went to our pastor's house for BBQ #2.

I brought The Pioneer Woman's Watermelon Pico de Gallo.

My sister had made it at the potluck she hosted a few weeks ago, and it is oh, so good.

Perfect for the 4th!

Of course, another photo op with Jack...

 

 

After dinner they set up the projector outside to watch The Sandlot, but the little man was already way past his bedtime, so we didn't stay long.

Hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July!

Beach Day

We have a major heat wave going on here in California.

Triple digit weather for about 10 days straight.

Today we are finally getting some relief.

The coast is always a good 15-20 degrees cooler than where we live inland, so on Saturday we 'beached' it up.

 Everyone else seemed to have the same idea that we did.

This was Jack's second trip to the beach, but the first time we really only spent an hour or so there.

He did so great this time around.

Perched him on a blanket under an umbrella and he pretty much hung out there for most of the day.

Can we talk about how much of a little boy he looks like in the bottom right picture?!
Tears.
Where is my baby?

We brought lots of things to keep him distracted.

I love these three of Jack and Jason.

And, a rare photo of Jack and I.

 

I can't stop starring at this picture.

Makes me smile :) 

This was the first time Jason and I had been to Capitola, so we enjoyed walking around the cute downtown.
 

 And no trip a beach town is complete without a stop at the taffy store.

Ugh, guilty (and expensive) pleasure.

$11 worth of taffy...

 

We're looking forward to going back soon!

One of the many reasons why I love California! 

A Tour of Pixar Studios

One of our friends works at Pixar Studios and invited us to their monthly 'Beer Bash' on Friday.

We've been trying to go for months and it finally worked out.

The last Friday of the month, Pixar hosts dinner and drinks for their employees, friends, and family.

So, pretty much that's reason #1 why Pixar is the coolest place to work.

Reason #2 has got to be that the grounds are freaking amazing.

I was blown away!

This is where we checked in...

Yes, life size Buddy and Buzz Lightyear...made out of Legos.

Buddy was about 6 feet tall.

This is their main atrium.

Beautiful.

Since Monster's University is the current movie they just released, the place was decked out with everything MU related.

Also in the atrium is their cafe, employee kitchen (free cereal and pb&j all day long - I would never need to buy breakfast or lunch again), and their rec area with ping pong/air hockey/fuse ball, etc)

We went on a tour of the rest of the studio, and it kept getting cooler and cooler.

We saw their three movie theaters with velvet upholstered chairs (one had couches instead).

Most of the parts of the upper level I wasn't able to take pictures of, but we were able to see tons of stuff that goes on behind the scenes of making antimated movies.

Lots of drawing boards and sketches.

It takes anywhere from 30,000 - 100,000 drawing boards to make one of their movies!

Crazy.

I was so glad I was able to take a picture of this, though.

So sad our Jack Jack wasn't there, but I plan on bringing him back for a photo shoot.

Perfect for his 1st birthday, which is Incredibles/Jack Jack themed :)

They have multiple bars throughout the studio.

We went in one, and I felt like I was in a lounge in San Francisco.

Reason #3 why this place is awesome.

The campus also has a swimming pool, basketball court, soccer field...and probably more that I didn't see.

They encourage their employees to use their lunch to do these activities...or join the crouching club...or whatever is your hobby.

Reason #4 why I want to work there.  

Now...to watch Monster's University!

Bloglovin & 25 Randoms About Me

I'm finally getting around to this....

I use Blogger Dashboard, so I haven't felt any sense of urgency to sign up for Bloglovin.

But, for my 21 followers, it's almost July 1st, so here you go :)

Follow my blog with Bloglovin
(Although now that it looks like you can still follow me even if I don't set up an account).

And, to give this post some substance....
I was cleaning up my facebook page recently and found this.
I wrote it in January of 2009.
But, they're all still true and I got a good laugh reading through these, so I thought I'd share.

So, here are 25 Random Facts about Me:

1. I have never broken a bone (which is shocking considering that I am a klutz)

2. I have a lazy eye and had to wear a patch over my left eye from the ages of 3-7

3. Laundry is my favorite chore (Dishes are a close second)

4. I have a shot glass collection from places all over the world

5. Every single birthday party of mine from ages 1-12 was heart-themed

6. In September of 2006, I traveled to 10 countries (including 14 cities) all throughout Europe (and yes, I do have a shot glass from each place I visited)

7. Growing up I had a strange obsession with toothbrushes

8. I can walk on my hands…for a good length of time

9. I am a hypochondriac (I won’t mention the number of times I’ve thought I’ve had cancer)

10. One of my greatest fears is being trapped in a fire

11. I call my dad Jimmy (Most people call him Brian)

12. I am tone deaf (But wish I could sing)

13. I won’t forget your birthday if you tell it to me once

14. I never had braces

15. I have a scar on my right arm due to “modular fasciitis”

16. My favorite section of the newspaper is the weather page

17. I blush easily…but it’s only because I have rosacea (I’ve been diagnosed)

18. I can’t wink (Don’t ask me to try – it’s embarrassing)

19. When I was little I thought my name was Baboo

20. I am addicted to coffee and get a headache if I don’t have a cup by noon

21. My arm span is almost 6 feet long

22. I’m allergic to bee stings and penicillin

23. I’ve never had a pet dog (and would be okay if I never did)

24. My closet is extremely organized (And when I was younger I might have had lists of all my outfits organized by season...you know, so I wouldn't repeat wearing outfits too close together)

25. I get riled up when people try to call me Becky, so I wouldn't recommend trying :)

So, there you are.
A little randomness for your Wednesday!

Welcoming Summer

Ah, sweet, sweet summer.

So good to have you here.

It was definitely a different year of teaching.

I started the school year off almost 36 weeks pregnant, taught for 3.5 weeks, and then went on maternity leave for 8 weeks.

It was hard to come back and reestablish a classroom when my students had spent almost three times the time with my long-term sub as they had with me.

In addition to that, I went part-time this year.

I am absolutely so thankful that I was able to do this (and will be able to continuing doing it), but it's an adjustment to not be at school full time.

I had to bring home a lot more grading than in the past...and with more on my plate at home now, it was a year of figuring out the balancing act.

Full-time teachers and mommies, props to you!
I had a great group of students this year though, which helped with all the transitions.

A student gave me this sign as an end of the year gift a few years ago and it cracks me up.

Not the only reasons for teaching, but definitely three perks to teaching.

June, July, and August are extra special for me this summer because it means that I get to be a full-time mommy.

I've thoroughly enjoyed my first week of summer.

Here are the highlights so far:

Jack and I are enjoying our summer mornings together.

Along with lots of playtime together.

On Wednesday we went to the fair with the cousins.

I love the progression of these 4 pictures above.
Jack is already beating up on his older cousin.

My sister hosted a Pioneer Woman Potluck on Thursday.

I made her Grilled Chicken Salad with Feta, Fresh Corn, and Blueberry.

Sounds a little wild with the blueberries, but it was actually really good!

And we've resumed our summer lunch dates with daddy.

This weekend the youth pastor at our church got married in the woods a few hours from where we live. Like, their ceremony was literally in a meadow.

So fun!

We spent the rest of the weekend with Jason's grandparents, who live an hour from where the wedding was.

Looking forward to many more weeks of summer ahead!

Father's Day :: 2013

Like Mother's Day, we split our time between Jason's parents and mine.

Again, what a blessing to be so close to our families.

The day was quiet mellow and there wasn't a lot to document.

But, I wanted to make sure to get some generation pictures with both sides of the family.

We started with lunch at Jason's parents.
 

I think Jason looks like his dad.

Jason does not think so.

 

We ended the day with dinner at my sisters with my family.
 

Lately, most people have been saying that Jack looks like Jason.

I've always thought he looks like me (especially as a baby).

But, more so, ever since Jack was a newborn, Jason and I have thought he looked like my dad.
I posted the above picture on Instagram and Facebook on Sunday, and finally people see it.
 

Jack is a mini-Jimmy!

  So glad I was able to get pictures of all my favorite guys together.

It was a perfectly mellow Father's Day.

MLB Draft Party

Last Thursday was the MLB draft.

I'm sure you knew that, right?

No, probably not.

While I love me some Giant's baseball, the only reason I knew it was the MLB draft last week was because we were going to a draft party.

You know, where you eat good food and watch who gets picked to play on what team.

Normally I really wouldn't care about this, since I only care about the Giants and no other team, really.

But...we were going to a draft party with someone who was actually being drafted.

Mark Appel.

So that made it pretty cool.

Mark grew up in Houston until middle school and then moved out to CA.

Him and his family attended our church for many years.

After high school Mark went to Stanford, where he was their baseball teams starting pitcher.

Last year, after his third year at Stanford, he went to the draft and went #8 to the Pirates.

He ended up not signing his contract and decided to go back and pitch his last year at Stanford.

So, this year, he was back up in the draft and expected to be one of the top picks again.

We were all hoping he would go #1 because the Houston Astros were the first pick, they are Mark's home team growing up, and that's where he wanted to go.

It was so fun being at the party.

So suspenseful.  

Here is the fan club, waiting for the draft to start.

Finally it was go time.

You can imagine our excitement when this happened!

Wow.

#1 pick.

It was awesome and so fun to be in the room with him when he heard his name!

(Sorry for the blurry pictures - I think my hand was shaking from all the excitement)

What's even cooler is that Mark is an amazing man of God.

He truly see's the baseball diamond as his mission field.

Last year when he decided not to sign with the Pirates, he got a lot of flack from the media.

But, this past year at Stanford, he pitched one of his best seasons.

And, he played a role in bringing four of his teammates to know the Lord.

When interviewed by ESPN after he was drafted #1 this year, he was asked if he felt some vindication from those that gave him a hard time for not going to the Pirates.

Mark simply quoted Romans 8:28,  "And we know that in things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to His purpose."  He then said he is simply excited for how God is going to work through all of this.

To God be the Glory.

Love it.

I might just have to become an Astros fan.

Or at least get Jack an Astros jersey.

Congrats, Mark!