Well, it really has frozen over...

Here's something we never thought we would be doing on our Saturday...waiting in line for over an hour for a picture with BARNEY!! Luckily, Daddy and our friends Robin and Caris were along to keep us company! Check out that grin on Daddy's face...he is loving every minute of it ;)

Goin' Back to Cali...

It's been almost 2 years since I was a resident of CA and I really do miss lots of things about it. Chief among them is the cool weather (especially given the 105 temps we have been having around here!)! Last week we were lucky enough to spend a week out there- splitting our time equally between Orange County and Santa Barbara. I was in my good friend Tracy's wedding in Orange County and so we spent our first 4.5 days there. We had a great time hanging out with the wedding party and reminiscing with our old friends Alexis and Aaron! While in Orange County we worked in some beach and pool time, an Angels vs. Rangers game, The Pageant of the Masters in Laguna Beach, as well as some shopping at H&M and some great seafood and frozen yogurt eating (yea Yogurtland!!). On our way from Orange County to Santa Barbara we also stopped at the Getty Center and checked out some art, as well as the gorgeous views! When we lived in Santa Barbara I was pregnant with Sienna for pretty much the entire time, and so while I have been out to the Santa Ynez Valley wine country multiple times with guests, I've never gotten to REALLY enjoy it! So our first day in SB was spent on a bike tour of the wine country. We went to 3 vineyards and biked a total of 10 miles. It was the most fabulous way to see the countryside and feel good doing it! I highly recommend! The last two days of our trip we mostly spent time eating at our favorite places, walking around enjoying the Fiesta festivities, hitting the beach, and just driving around looking at our favorite things and places! Of course, I also had to hit my favorite shopping spot for Sienna and she undoubtedly was the big winner as far as souvenirs from the trip ;) Our hearts were heavy leaving CA, but we were excited to get back and see our little stinker again! Here are some pics, in no particular order:

dinner at Zaytoon, in Santa Barbara

SB Mission

Kurt at our favorite beach in SB, Arroyo Burro

me on Arroyo Burro Beach

biking the wine country- River Bench vineyard

outside Foxen winery

at the Getty Center, LA

view atop the Getty Center

With Alexis and Aaron at the wedding

Lex, Trac and I at the wedding

Angels v. Rangers

Bluebonnets!

Okay, okay...I know it is the middle of summer, but we just got these pictures back from our photographer. Sienna was so cute in the bluebonnets this year! It was definitely her happiest photo session- probably because it was both only 15 minutes long and also outside! Enjoy! I am off to pack for Cal-i-forn-ia!! :)

What a Weekend!

Me and my little sparkler :)

Grandma playing Wii with the grandkids

Brunch!

Our little fam at Freedomfest (thanks for the pic Julie!)

Yesterday on the 3rd of July we celebrated with a trip down to Freedomfest in Frisco with some friends and their kiddos! It started off with a bang for us because after finally getting parked we realized we had forgotten the one essential element- the DIAPER BAG!! AAAHHH! This is where I carry Sienna's sippy cup, diapers, wipes, toys, snacks, camera, basically the kitchen sink as far as Sienna is concerned! I was panicked. Well, at least we were meeting friends and I knew we could borrow everything but snacks and sippy cups. We did at least have one diaper. So off we went! We had a great time taking in the sights and were about to get on a bounce house when we realized it was about to POUR! So we all headed down to Mattito's for dinner and snickered at all the other poor souls stuck in the rain! After dinner we headed home and put Sienna to bed and watched a few fireworks from our yard.

This morning, on the 4th, we went to church and afterward had Kurt's family over to our house for brunch. I swear- I haven't baked this much since Sienna was born! She can be pretty high maintenance and is definitely a Mommy's girl- so I am very thankful she is gaining some independence and allowing me to get a few things done! We had a sausage and egg casserole, blueberry scones, banana bread, fruit and dip, and spinach artichoke dip. Yum! We had a great time hanging out with everyone afterward up in the media and game rooms. Then to cap off the afternoon, Kurt and I made two batches of homemade ice cream (vanilla and chocolate) while Sienna was napping. Then we all went to the pool when she woke up! What a fun day!

Sienna's Dedication

It's been a big month in our house! Two weekends ago I was baptized and this past weekend (on Mother's Day) Sienna was dedicated! In typical fashion, I have pics of hers but not mine ;) We are so proud of our little girl and the sweet child she is becoming! My parents gave her a small James Avery cross as a dedication gift and I thought for sure she would try to rip it off. Boy did she prove me wrong! She was so incredibly gentle and delicate with that cross on and wore it the whole day! What a special and precious day it was too :)

We had a fantastic Mother's Day weekend with my parents in town to help celebrate. After the church service both families enjoyed a nice brunch at Chez Moi. I was ecstatic- I received the two presents for Mother's Day that I have been really needing (and wanting!)- a Coach diaperbag and a Lovesac beanbag chair for our gameroom! In fact, it was hilarious because we bought one Lovesac on Saturday night and Kurt insisted it was the only one we needed even though I tried to convince him to get two since they were running a good deal. Well, on Sunday everyone was fighting over who got to sit in it. So after about 5 minutes of discussing it, we hopped back in the car and went back to buy another one while the "Mother's Day Sale" was still going on! Hah! Our gameroom is now fully equipped and Mommy finally has a place to sit- YAHOO!!

There goes Peter Cotton Tail....

Easter has come and gone and our little bug sure had a blast hunting eggs this year! One of my relatives, Lorie Franz, and her family sent Sienna a whole box of Easter goodies and after the first time we hid the eggs, she wanted to hunt them over and over again! And she would look every time to see if there was something in them- little bugger!! On the Saturday before Easter we traveled down to the Dallas Arboretum for some family photos with the Grandparents. The weather was gorgeous and we all enjoyed walking around the grounds and eating lunch afterward. Pics to come soon :) We enjoyed a wonderful Easter dinner at Kurt's parents' house and my parents were also kind enough to help up landscape our backyard while they were visiting. The following weekend Kurt's Grandma Clary and his Aunt Michelle were in town, so we had another nice family get-together. We were so thankful to be able to celebrate with so many relatives!


Aunt Michelle with the cousins

Kurt's Mom, Grandma Clary, Kurt and Sienna- 4 generations!
My Mom reading to Sienna

Mmmm...this is my "I LOVE JELLYBEANS" face...

With her Easter basket

Hunting Easter Eggs inside...the weather wasn't so good...

Sunglasses from her Easter basket...as you can tell, she really knows how to "cheese it up" for pictures now...

Opening her Easter basket...

Ready to go to church with Mommy...

Paw-Paw and Grandma Wilson

Opening the eggs from Lorie and fam...

Dyeing Easter eggs...

Another "cheese" pic...

Okay, so I know it's almost Easter...

...but I'm just now getting around to posting Sienna's Vintage Valentines pics! Bad Mommy! Oh well, at least you can enjoy them now since I've been hearing some moaning and groaning about my lack of picture posting lately! ;)

Here's a short summary of what we've been up to the last few weekends:

On March 6th we celebrated our 6 year anniversary! This year wasn't as ceremonious as some in the past have been...but the funny thing about that is I think we actually had more fun since it was low key and no-expectations! We just picked up some donuts in the morning, Kurt got me a massage during the day, then in the evening we took Sienna to eat with us at our old standby, The Cheesecake Factory. Afterward we just walked around the mall for a little while. Sienna was happy-go-lucky and it was a great evening!

Well, that Sunday after our anniversary I was sitting on the couch watching the Academy Awards like the sad, celebrity obesssed person that I am! Well, Sienna climbed up on my lap and proceeded to be glued to the TV and the stars for the next hour. This is extremely strange for Sienna- usually she likes to be up wandering around and getting into things. I'm thinking- this kid is going to be a moviestar- she LOVES the Oscars!! Hmmm...not so much...I started to notice she was extra-warm and before bed we took her temperature. Yep, fever coming on. Over the next four days she ran a temp over 105 twice and we made 1 trip to the emergency room and 2 trips to the regular doctor! Our regular doc was out of town, but on the third try to the doctor they finally found out she had double ear infections! Lord have mercy- I think I could have been a doctor sometimes! Hah- except for my terrible science grades :) Anyway, we were supposed to leave town on Thursday, but ended up having to wait until Friday since that's when Sienna was finally on the mend- thank God for Amoxicillin!!!!

So last Friday we finally were able to head up to Austin for the State Basketball Tournament. This is a major family tradition since I've been going since I was a baby myself. Kurt and his parents started joining our family back when we were dating in college, and now his parents good friends, Don and Nancy, also join us since their son, Jason, is a coach. We have a lot of fun and eat a lot of good food between games. The highlights are always within walking distance of the Erwin Center, but are some pretty good eats nonetheless- Players Hamburgers, The Brick Oven, and Stubbs BBQ. Sienna was quite the challenge to babysit this year, so my Mom and I ended up missing about half of each session, but the weather in Austin was fabulous so we didn't complain! Speaking of Austin....oh how we love and miss you...Lord let us find our way back one day!!! It really is our home and we miss it so!