A little rain must fall

This year the fall has been ushered in with a lot of rain. I wish it would come with cooler temperatures, but so far that hasn't come. But for several weeks in a row, there were many days with storms. Many times the storms hit right when we were coming and going, but one afternoon Emery  was able to go outside and play in the rain. 

Sometimes a little rain is all that is needed to make her happy.

17 years

Tomorrow will be our 17th wedding anniversary. Looking at that number amazes me. It seems like such long time, but it has gone by so fast all at the same time. 

I am so grateful to have found him. He is so good for me in so many ways. He understands me and puts up with me. Most of the time he knows me better than I know myself. I really appreciate that about him. So much has changed since we met. We have changed. But we have grown together and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Gallery wall

I've already mentioned that I like to change things around my house.  I have been wanting to do something different on the wall where we enter from the garage for quite awhile.. I had been planning, and gathering things I found and finally put it all together about a month ago. 

I don't even have a good before shot. You would think, since I usually plan out these changes in my head for quite awhile, I would take a picture, but I don't. Then I just suddenly decide to dive in and go for it.

This is the only picture I could find that gives a little glimpse of the wall. All that was there was a clock and two candle sconces that didn't even have candles in them.

This is what I did with the space.

I love that there is some color there now. I played around with it for a couple weeks rearranging, adding to, and taking off, but right now I think I'm calling it done.

Another fun little thing I changed in the house were some pillows. I found these red ones from Costco and had to bring them home. They came in a 2 pack and are really nice. I wished I would have bought more, they had a couple of different styles and several colors, but I guess everyone else loved them too because when I went back the next week they were all gone.

Off to Preschool

Last week Emery started preschool. She was so excited. She had been asking every day since we had been her preschool open house. She couldn't wait to go back.

It's for me to believe that she is old enough to be off to school, but she gets really bored with everybody gone and this definitely helps her pass the time. Espcially since she usually starts asking if the kids are coming home around 11:00 everyday. It makes for some long days. 

Her first day, we had 30 minutes to kill from the time I dropped off Brendan and Hailey until her preschool start time. I took her to the park and attempted to get some pictures. She was pretty distracted and just wanted to get to school.

 As soon as I told her it was time to go, she took off and never looked back. She didn't even want me to come in with her.

She loved her first week and can't wait to go back. She just doesn't understand why she can't go everyday. And while I miss her, I had the best time grocery shopping all by myself. It's amazing how much I can accomplish without anyone around.

Beach Day

We had been thinking all summer of taking a day and going to the beach with the kids. It seemed like every weekend was taken up with something or other, but we finally just decided to go ahead and do it this weekend. Corey had a couple of free hotel nights too so we packed the kids up after school and headed to California for a couple of days. We were also able to go to a Dodgers game and just spent time relaxing at the hotel. It was such a nice weekend away.

Emery was so excited about being on the beach and was in heaven all day.

I think for all us the beach is a little piece of heaven.

(Emery called the ocean a swimming pool the whole time we were there. And just kept asking Corey to take her back in the pool.)

 The day was overcast and the water was cold... really cold. That didn't stop the kids at all though. By the end of the day the sun was bright and hot and then the water felt good.


A trip to the beach isn't complete without a lot of sand. Everywhere...and in everything. 

Of course, by the end of the day, everyone was covered in sand,  hungry and exhausted. (unfortunately some of us were a little sunburned too. I'm somehow always a little late on that sunscreen reapplication thing) Emery was asleep almost the second we buckled her into her car seat. It was such a fun time and I always wonder why we don't do beach trips more often. I think we will definitely have to make it happen again next summer.