VENICE, NOT THE ITALY ONE

California we can never get enough of you!!! lol. We enjoyed Venice Beach so here's just some of the pictures along with our kiki even though she didn't go with us, she was able to enjoy Grandma Sheila and Joe time;-) It was a blast spending time alone with my husband and getting away from the good ol hott summer AZ. I would love to hit up SEATTLE NEXT TIME, that would be alot of fun;-)

for those who know who SPACE INVADER IS!!

me and my pimp daddy

Venice freaks in the house

Our beloved bishop/grandpa Benson...oh how we adore him!!!!!

Daddy getting a kick out of kiki's crying

Gotta love road trips

ANNIVERSARY CHANGE OF PLANS!!

SO YA DIDN'T DO THE DISNEYLAND TRIP THAT I WANTED BUT WE STILL STAYED AT THE HILTON HOTEL FOR TWO NIGHTS AND WENT OUT TO VENICE BEACH AND HAD A BLAST!!!!! I THINK A BETTER TIME THAN WHAT I WOULD HAVE HAD AT DISNEYLAND HAHAHA. I'M CURRENTLY IN PALM DESERT WITH THE IN-LAWS RIGHT NOW AND ENJOYING THE REST OF MY VACATION SINCE WE JUST GOT BACK FROM OUR ANNIVERSARY LITTLE GETAWAY. BUT I DEFINITELY ENJOYED MY TWO NIGHTS OF SLEEPING THROUGH AND NOT HAVING TO CHANGE DIAPERS, FEED OR GET BABY SPIT-UP ALL OVER ME LOL. EVEN THOUGH I WAS ALSO CLOSE TO CANCELLING MY TRIP BECAUSE OF THE HORRIBLE SEPARATION ANXIETY THAT MOTHERS GET WHEN THEY HAVE TO LEAVE THERE BABIES....YA IT WAS PRETTY HORRIBLE!!! BUT MY MOTHER IN LAW HELPED ME FEEL BETTER ABOUT IT AND SO WE WENT AND DEFINITELY DON'T REGRET HAVING TO GET AWAY FOR A LITTLE. I'LL POST THE PICTURES FROM OUR CALI TRIP WHEN I GET BACK TO ARIZONA. BUT HERE'S THESE TWO PICTURES THAT I LOVE CUZ IT WAS ME AND MY HUSBANDS FIRST YEAR ANNIVERSARY WITH OUR LITTLE KIKI. ON THE DAY OF OUR ANNI. WE WENT TO THE CHEESECAKE FACTORY CUZ I LOVE IT SO MUCH AND MY HUSBAND GOT HIS IPHONE4 AS PART OF HIS ANNI. GIFT SO HE WAS TOO EXCITED THAT WE EVEN FORGOT TO TAKE PICTURES TOGETHER AND HE JUST KEPT TAKING PICTURES OF US AND THESE TWO PICTURES CAME OUT AWESOME..ESPECIALLY CUZ MY HAIR WAS DOING SO FABULOUS THAT NIGHT TOO TEHEHE!!!!

LOVELY Times!!

Now that we have a baby we have improvised our date nights and now spend them at home. Thank you baby jesus for my sweet husband;-) He spent hours at the store looking for the best beef tenderloin two nights ago along with scallops for our appetizer. This bottom picture was from two weeks ago, we both went out to AJ's Fine Foods and picked up NY Strip Steaks along with red potatoes and some Asparagus. Husband made it all and the food was to die for. He made the Hollandaise sauce if thats how you spell it lol and I've never tried it before til now and oh man soo delicious.!!!

Its been hard for me to cook meals lately now that my whole life mainly revolves around my sweet baby cakes Kiara (kiki). I honestly don't know what I would do without my Joshua if he wasn't around to help;-) It would be so tough being a single mommy seriously, but any who having a baby has brought us even closer as a couple, when i thought it would actually be the other way around. Its been awesome!!!! Date nights at home but we also give ourselves time alone when we need it and at times we take our little bubs with us. like the Other day we went out to RA and then these bottom pictures here were from us heading to Pita Jungle and Mommy did a little jewelry shopping. It was weird shopping for me, since now all I think about is Kiara's wardrobe and diapers. But it was fun having a little muah shopping time. I'm also working towards getting my gym membership in a few weeks after I get my DOCS approval. So far I've lost 30 pounds of prego weight without working out and I still got 15 more to go boo hoo;-( I feel a bit chubs hahaha not going to lie but at least some of my fat jeans fit and don't have to deal with maternal pants still lol. Hopefully I lose them and maybe some more too, although it has been fun having those extra pounds cuz I been eating all the junk food and indulging in whatever my palate craves. My main focus here is my daughter and my family....I guess the gym and my size 6 jeans can wait in the closet... Tata now I'm going to eat some Sonic that sounds about good now!!!!

NY strip

Kiki could care less about jewelry lol

On our way to Pita Jungle...can you tell we are starving???

On Parenting

"It's a lovely magic trick of the memory, this gilding of hard times. Perhaps it's just the necessary alchemy we need to keep the species going. But for parents, this sleight of the mind and spell on the heart is the very definition of enchantment." --Jennifer Senior

I became a little consumed with this article about parenting in NY Mag. (The title alone got me a bit riled up and depressed about the direction humanity is headed, in general.) Although it seemed a little late to make the point, the last page---and especially the last two paragraphs---opened a kind of beautiful discourse. Despite sleepless nights and nap-less days (and maybe because of them), I know just how it feels to become so "enchanted" with a little one, and I am proud to say that having a child has made me a less self-centric, less self-centered person. ;-)