MERRY CHRISTMAS

skate camp...

ok, blogger's mad at me or something. i've been trying to upload photos for this post for a couple weeks off and on and can't for some reason. so this is as far as i've gotten. these are pictures from element's skate camp up on sequoia lake. we went with chad for a couple days this summer. it is gorgeous up there. dylan enjoyed the outdoors and playing on the ramps. more to come...hopefully...

san diego zoo...

mother's day

so it's no surprise to any of my readers (all 3 of you) that i'm a little late when it comes to the blog posts. so this one's about mother's day which was 2 months ago! the day before mother's day, i got to have my own special day with just Dylan and Chad, which included me getting a manicure/pedicure (first one in a looooooong time). it was a great day. we then spent the actual holiday with our mothers. the day started at my parents' house where the men, Chad, Josh and Pops shopped, purchased and prepared lunch for all of us. it was a great lunch! they made chicken, shrimp and veggie kabobs, succotash, and mudd pie, well they didn't make the mudd pie, they bought it, but that didn't matter, it was delish! oh and we even had some wonderful appetizers!

Josh and Chad in the kitchen!

Joshie getting his kabob on

we then followed the day up at the mother-in-law's place. Tico, Kelly, Trey, Em and Grandma were there. we had a great time hanging, playing games, looking at old pictures and telling great stories.

aww, sibling love

the cutest cousins

about sums it up!

there we go, that's better

Grandma with her kiddos

me and my girl

we finished the day by taking Chad's mom to dinner at the Yard House and Ray got to serve us. it was a wonderful ending to a great day.

adios casa de los campos

every year for easter, we join Chad's family in fallbrook for an all-out easter celebration! Uncle Phil and Aunt Debbie live in a beautiful home on a hill with an avocado orchard. the easter celebration includes family, friends and an extravagant egg hunt for all ages. the egg hunt is famous for it's "golden egg". the finder of the golden egg gets the pot of money everyone contributes to. however, because the stakes are so high, Uncle Phil gets way too crafty and it's sooo hard to find!! either way, we always have a wonderful time there. unfortunately this was the last easter at casa de los campos. the house has officially sold so we must find a new place to celebrate and egg hunt :( so long casa de los campos, you hold great memories for all of us, especially the manuell family.

the grounds

Pops doing a little bird-watching

Chad enjoying the view

uppy daddy?

the newest egg-hunter, precious Ella Lee English

disneyland

Dylan recently experienced disneyland for the first time! it's a bit early for her to really grasp the concept, especially considering she doesn't watch tv or movies and

therefore doesn't recognize any characters. nonetheless, it was a fun time. our cousins Andy and Whitney came out to california to visit from texas. whitney had never been and so we decided to make a day of it. thank you Andy and Whitney for a great and memorable time!

the ever-so-necessary family photo at the entrance

(complete with asian tourists in the background)

Dylan on main st, usa

this was on the wall at mr. toad's wild ride, i'm not sure what the guy was whispering to the horse's ass. i guess we'll never know!

this was the expression on Dylan's face the entire time we were on any ride. this was the first shot on her first ride ever, mr. toad's wild ride.

can't remember what they call this now, but it used to me the swiss family robinson's treehouse

Dylan LOVED Whitney! it was the first time i've seen her take to someone new so quickly. and, of course, Whitney was so great with her. she practically took care of her the whole time they were here. it was like a mini break for me!

after our long day we met up with Nanny and Pops for a late dinner at ruby's

fail blog

okay, so...i failed. miserably. i couldn't even complete two weeks of my photo-a-day blog experiment. oh well. we have been crazy busy with all kinds of things good, bad and ugly! i'm working on a super-duper, ultra-amazing, gonna blow your mind blog post. it'll take me some time so in the meantime, enjoy this video. Dylan LOVES to dance. the extra fun part of this video is that we were using "back-up" diapers (random store-brand i bought in a pinch while out one time) cause i didn't make it to the target that sells the big box of my fave 7th gen diapers, however, Chad confused Franki's diapers with Dylan's back-ups, which are different sizes. sooo, she's wearing a tiny diaper. she obviously could care less! watch and enjoy!

day 14 - i can skip days right?

we've been enjoying the little tease of summer weather we've been getting...it's been HOT!!

day 12

somebody's glad daddy's home

day 10

so today is more than a photo, it's many photos. Chad returned home from hawaii last night. Dylan was already in bed when he got home, so she didn't know he was here until this morning. she spent the morning following him around. it was adorable!! unfortunately though, we didn't spend much time with him. he has already left for a weekend trip. while he was home he had time to shower, sleep, eat oatmeal, unpack some clothes to wash, go to irvine for a meeting, come home, pack for the weekend, and eat lunch. he then left for a weekend trip. poor guy. no time off. watching Dylan with him this morning was the sweetest thing ever, but it made it harder for him to leave. our day ended better though, since my mom is out of town too, Dylan and i met Pops for dinner at, my favorite, Caffe la Strada on 2nd. we ate, took a little stroll down 2nd and had yogurtland. it was a fun time! thanks for the date Pops!

here's Dylan watching Chad unpack a few things to wash so he could repack them

she even watched out the window while he went out to the garage to put his clothes in the wash

she watched him wash his face

and dry his face

but then it was time to say goodbye...see you sunday!

dinner date with Pops

strolling 2nd st

and finally yogurtland...yum!