We HEART Laguna Beach!!!

Before my Mother-in-law Judy left to go back to Boston we decided to take her and the kids to the beach and enjoy the beautiful sunny weather we were having!! Well you wouldn't have known by looking at these pictures that it was blue skys and sunny days back in Temecula, cuz the minute we got near the coast it looked like this...very foggy!!However we made the best of the situation and still had soo much fun!! It started off with us eating our picnic lunch that we had brought and watching all of the crazy seagulls fly over us waiting for any little crumb to drop!!! So Fischer and Campbell couldn't resist, they took their leftover crusts and started feeding those dirty birds!!

Still soo gorgeous...fog and all!!Daddy walking the kids over to the tide pools...
Fischer was soo excited to have found this beautiful shell until I told him that we were actually on state park grounds and weren't aloud to take anything from the tide pool area. Sorry Bud.

I love this...

Daddy's girl!

Judy & I...
The water was actually not that cold!!!

Me and my Cami girl...

This picture turned out to be soo funny because you see the wave that is behind them?? Well it was coming with full-force right at them and I took this pix just in time and prevented them from getting totally soaked!! However I secretly keep thinking to myself how hillarious that would've been!! hee hee

We found this cool sort of cave...

How cute is that???

ME & JULIE'S 24 HOUR BLACK FRIDAY ADVENTURE!!!!!

Yes you heard it right...We were literally out shoppin' it up and finding all "the Black Friday" deals for 24 Hours Straight!!! We thought we were smart when we made a plan to sleep in Julie's car after we were done shopping at the outlets, which opened at 11pm to kick off their big Midnight Madness Sales...However...when we arrived at Kohl's and saw that there were only a few people in line (this is at 1:45am BTW) we knew that all the crazies would just keep coming with their camp chairs and we did not want to miss a beat!!!

So...As tired as we already were by then, we knew we had to brave the freezing Cold and sit on the hard cement with our Diet Cokes & Blankets and wait for a couple hours until they opened at 4am!! We only look happy cuz we were 10th in line!! Yeah for us!! We had to take a piture of this random guy's make-shift tent that he had set up in front of Best Buy...we drove along the sea of tents and honestly could not believe our eyes!! It was so crazy. The people that were waiting behind him told us that he had been there for The Last 3 Days!!! I mean really...I know we were out all night, but I don't think there is a deal good enough in this years Best Buy Ad that you would've seen me camping out for!! Psycho!!
Here we are...with a car full of our"Black Friday Deals"... after standing in many lines, waiting, waiting, and more waiting, store hopping, getting in fights with store managers, getting dirty looks from random people for taking the "last one" of something, running on No Sleep & Diet Cokes, feeling like we had just been to Tijuana and back, wanting to brush our teeth so badly, Our feet hurting and basically just sick of each other and this whole experience!! What is that you ask??? Was it worth it???

Well...judging from our appearance and sad faces, at the time we probably would have just Bit Your Freaking Head Off if you had asked us that!!! But now looking back, I would totally do it over again, only with Julie being my "partner in crime" (She doesn't know this yet) but most likely will make her do "Black Friday" with me next year...Okay maybe not an all nighter!! That really was Brutal...but we definately made some fun memories that we will always remember and laugh about!!! HAHAHAHA Thanks Draeger, for the Good Times!!!

Cousin Time!!! YEAH!!

So for the last few years it has kind of been a tradition that the cousins spend the night on Thanksgiving night since they are already here and don't have school the next day!! Here is Merrick with her cousins and my twin sisters' daughters'...Caitlyn and Madison.So I being the "cool Aunt" that I am wanted to do something fun with them while they were here and so I tried to play "Martha" for the day and recreate her fun little gum drop creations that I found in her mag.Here is the gang along with some neighborhood kids that decided to join in on the fun!!I think Cami ate more gum drops than actually made it on her skewers!!Here are Merricks cute gum drop flowers... Here is what Fischer called his "gum drop Alien"... Nice job on your gum drop Santa Maddie....

How cute is Caitlyns' gum drop person....

Happy Turkey Day...

I love Thanksgiving time and all of the great fall decor that I get to place around my house!! I always get the opportunity to host our Thanksgiving dinners and this year we had to celebrate it the Sunday before so that my sisters who had to spend the actual day with their in-laws were able to be here with our grandpa who was visiting from Ohio.

Here are Kristian, Rob and my cute Dad getting impatient!!Me with my most favorite Grandpa ever!!! Our make-shift dining area set for 10....
Kristian set up shop for the kids to eat out in the garage with their new Pottery Barn Turkey plates that their Grandma Diane presented to them that day. Thanks Grandma!

Cami playing "dress up" with her cousins...twins Grace abd Olivia and their big sissy Taylor.

Merrick's Craft Fair

This is one of the 3 Craft Fairs Merrick has done!! I am soo proud of her becoming a little business woman at the age of 10!! Wow!! She is truly amazing and very talented!! She has named her business Flower Power notebooks & journals...Her booth looked so awesome!!Here is Merrick with her "Amee" Judy (My great mother-in-law) who has helped out tremendously with her craft fairs!! They even did one together while I was away in Ohio at my Grandpa's house!! Thanks again Judy for all of you participation and help on Merrick behalf!!The tables were set up so cute...Here are the smaller ones that she does and sells for $3. They are adorable!!

Here are some of her Christmas creations....

She also does smaller ones to coordinate with the bigger ones...Good Thinking Mer-Mer!!!

She will actually be selling them now on Etsy.com and I will post when that is up and running in case you want to order any from her!! Great Job Merrick...Mommy is so very proud of you!!