HALLOWEEN PARADE

Today was an extra long work lunch break but man was it worth it. Juan and I got to hang out with Gisele and watch her school's Halloween Parade!! Gisele is with her mom this year for Halloween so it was great to see her little face, see her costume, give her a squeeze and wish her a HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

^^^We love our Little Mermaid

^^^Papa got to walk around with her during the parade. So cute!

^^^Gisele loved looking at all of the costumes 

^^^Gisele with some of her friends 

^^^Gisele loved introducing me to all of her friends. Melted my heart!

^^^And she jumped on my lamp when the older kids started parading around and were wearing scary costumes...man I remember being scared of my classmates costumes LOL

ENGAGEMENT PHOTOS

This past weekend was so BUSY! The Evans Family had a lot to get done around their new house before move-in day. Dan came into town for 5 days to work on the house. Juan and I happily spent countless hours helping Dan get the house ready. It was tiring but more than worth it seeing little pregnant Stephanie last night and giving Brooke and Brighton big squeezes. Those kiddos melt my heart! I still can't believe Steph and her family live a short 6 minutes away! If you had told me four years ago that I would be engaged to Juan and living 6 minutes from the Evans family, I would have called your bluff. Dream come true all around! 

Sometimes I feel like I make my life out to be this perfect life, it isn't, nobody is perfect but I try my very best to focus on the good. Life isn't easy and trust me we have our fair share of struggles with work, friends, family, co-parenting, goals that haven't been met, the list could go on and on but that is just a part of life. We will keep working hard, trying our very best, taking care of each other and those around us. We are so very blessed and do our best to count our blessings every day. We slowed down at the end of the weekend and met up with Raechel from Raechel Denise Photography for our engagement photo shoot. What a fantastic way to end the weekend! Juan and I had a great time despite feeling a little awkward when a group gathered around oooo-ing and awww-ing outside of Moo Time Creamery (our first date spot) and once we got over the initial embarrassment of having a camera on us. We had fun with it and love how the pictures came out. We can't wait to see the rest! Thanks again Raechel!!

 ^^^Haha I love the selfie pic!

LAZY SUNDAY

We try our best to keep our Sunday's low key in order to prepare for the week, which is even more important now that Gisele is in school and needs to be extra rested for the school week. Last Sunday was so nice, morning sewing project, day hike, lunchtime picnic, lazy afternoon watching a movie and evening mass. I love our life.

PUMPKIN CARVING

This past weekend was our last weekend with Gisele before Halloween and she is with her mom this year on Halloween night so we decided to throw together a last minute pumpkin carving party. We originally invited the neighborhood kids but it was so late in the week that everyone had plans. It worked out for the best because we had Gisele's bestie, Roxanne come over and Gisele was ecstatic to see Uncle Milton and Christina. (Of course Juan and I loved seeing them along with Linda and Armond). The afternoon before our shindig Gisele and I got some witch hats and 5 mins before Gisele decided Papa should dress up too. I think we make a cute little bunch haha. Man I love Halloween....I need to get started on Juan and I's actual Halloween costumes!

^^^Gisele and I made smore cupcakes for the first time. Graham Cracker bottoms and marshmallow filling...wow!

^^^Haha I love him...that outfit is too much!

^^^Spiderman decided to stop by!

^^^Think we were all too distracted by cupcakes, snacks, drinks, spooky music and the kiddos running around....our pumpkins suffered. I think 1st place goes to Gisele's pumpkin with the wobbly smile :)

MEETING THE GOEBEL FAMILY

Juan's friend, coworker and biking buddy, August has two little boys and a little girl on the way. I've met him once outside Juan's office but for the most part only knew him from Juan's stories. With our busy schedule it is nearly impossible to schedule play dates but we finally managed to plan something with August's family last weekend. The Goebel family just moved to SD two years ago and they are still "new" to the area. Having only driven through La Jolla it was fun taking them around. The kids had a blast watching the seals, running around and climbing trees. Reed and Ridge were adorable and played great with Gisele. Think she found some new friends :) I enjoyed talking to August's wife Melissa and can already tell we have a lot in common. Overall it was a great morning / afternoon. I always love meeting new people, especially ones that share similar interests. Looking forward to our next hang out and showing them another highlight of San Diego. So far we have checked off La Jolla on the coast and Wahoo's Fish Tacos (they had never been!).

^^^Ridge is only 2 but he could definitely hang with the bigger kids! Such a cutie! Only 4 and she's already chasing the boys...uh oh!

^^^Photo Credit: Juan Martinez .....I love this pic!

^^^Mother Ocean never ceases to amaze me!

^^^Cruising La Jolla with my favorite little girl.

^^^I see a monkey in the tree!

^^^Selfies LOL

Love her so much!

JULIAN

I have lived in San Diego for over 10 years now and two Sunday's ago was my very first time to Julian! What a lovely little town! David and Erik decided to explore with us before heading home and we had a great time eating entirely too much candy and pie. It was great!I love all the little shops and it was nice to getaway, breathe the crisp air and cruise the country roads with the windows down.

  ^^^We lost Juan's camera pics so here I am (from his instagram lol)

"AWESOME" RAMONA OCTOBERFEST

Two weekends ago Juan and I stayed at the Rowland Ranch, spent the day with my brothers and the evening with our friends David and Erik at the first ever....wait for it....Ramona Octoberfest! Given how great Ramona's 4th of July was we figured the Octoberfest would be equally as awesome. We were wrong but the four of us decided to get in the spirit even though it was quite possibly the worst Octoberfest in the history of Octoberfests.

And from earlier that day...a few football pics from Cole's game. Proud of the little guy...he is not giving up!

^^^#26 Cole Rowland (on the right) holding off his opponents!

^^^I think we have 100 pictures of Christian from that afternoon, he became our model when Cole was on the sidelines. Good thing he is a ham and loves that kind of stuff.