home again, home again

We had a wonderful vacation visiting with friends and family in Phoenix last week.

Brian and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary....our friends Brian and Sheri took us to a great little hole-in-the-wall Mexican joint for dinner, then to a Suns game (the Suns won 140-118 - a nice little anniversary present).

Following are a few of our favorite pics from the rest of the week:

Standing at the backstop watching Matt Holliday take BP....does it get any better for an A's fan?


One of our little monkeys sure was right at home with the baboons and other animals at the zoo



Not sure if Jhen will ever be upgraded from the kids table


Spent a nice afternoon with my parents at the Botanical Gardens (thanks Grandma and PaPa for watching the girls)


It just wouldn't be a vacation in Arizona without a trip to the Sugar Bowl


And we capped off our vacation with a lovely visit with our friends the Sumralls


Although vacations are always a blast, we're thankful to be home and getting back into our routine. Now, if baseball season would just hurry up and get here!

bad news, good news

UGGGHHHH....nothing worse than sick kids. Just found out today that Alex's lingering cold has developed into a double ear infection. We're gonna work extra hard to get healthy however (whatever that entails I'm not exactly sure) before we head off to "sunny Mesa" (as the girls call it). We're definitely looking forward to some much needed sun and relaxation!

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On a little happier note, we had a great time celbrating Brian's birthday last week. The girls were definitely hands-on when it came to baking the cake,

(yep, that's a head band...and no, we didn't put it on her...she added the Olivia Newton-John accessory all by herself)

picking out Daddy's card and gifts,

(suprisingly, they chose NOT to get the card with the monkey picking his nose)

and helping him open his presents.

(yep, that's Candy Land...I told you THEY picked out his presents)

Happy Birthday Brian....we LOVE you!