In case the social media world hasn't informed you already, it is Mother's Day. I wanted to also take a second to gush about the mothers in my life, the importance of this role and how much I appreciate being able to hold this role myself now. However, I know I can tend to be a little long winded at times [this is the part where you say, "What? You? NEVER!" like you mean it haha] so I think I will just narrate it with pictures and captions.

We have had an eventful past few weeks! First, my sister Mariah came into town with her now fiancé, Ross. Luckily, he somehow managed to pull off a surprise [to no one but her might I add!] proposal like he had planned. We are so happy for them-they asked Lester to take some pictures for them, and in doing so we were able to see the wonderful love they have for each other and how happy they are to be on the road to eternity together. Hooray for love!



While she is here we've been enjoying unusually good weather so we've been taking advantage of the sunshine by getting together with some friends at the beach, parks and other outside fun. We were recently given a hand me down double stroller, which is perfect with them here. We especially enjoyed using it in a walk fundraising and increasing awareness for Autism. It ended up being more like a mini fair or carnival then a walk, which was great. All together, its been a blast, and we are so happy we have another week to spend with them. 

I haven't yet blogged about our Easter weekend, so I will do that right now. On Saturday Lester got home from a shift with a beautiful special Easter dress he picked out just for Addy. As soon as she woke up, we all got dressed and headed out for the Oakland temple where they were having a concert entitled 'The Lamb of God', written by one of Lester's favorite composers, Rob Gardner. It was a beautiful day, full of beautiful music which highlighted the reasons we celebrate Easter. Even Addy seemed to enjoy it! Afterwards we enjoyed the sunshine and grounds for a while, before grabbing lunch at our favorite hot dog joint, Kaspers. Later that night, we dyed Easter eggs and enjoyed baking for the next days festivities with my family.








The next day was Easter Sunday, so we attended church in our Easter best to celebrate our Savior's sacrifice and resurrection. It was a packed house, and the spirit was felt in soft and subtle ways for me. Addy particularly enjoyed nursery, which she is now [much to her excitement] officially a part of. The leaders even brought them all special Easter bags, which the kids of course loved. After church, we took a Sunday nap and then woke up ready for Addy to open the Easter basket that was waiting for her! Then later, we enjoyed visiting with some of my family over our traditional Easter sit down dinner. Everything was delicious, as always and it was fun thinking of all the years we have enjoyed making the special cake my Grandma read about in a magazine years ago. After some outside time, we headed over to Lester's house to visit and enjoy seeing his side of the family.



The next day was Monday [which we still consider part of our weekends since at this point, Lester has them off]. We spent the day doing some easy chores, running some fun errands, and then just chilling at home. In the evening, we met up with some friends and their daughters for dinner in Pacifica and enjoyed walking/riding on the beach.


There are days I still can't believe how lucky and blessed we are to be back here, with our family and friends and living the sweet life we do. I know that all these things, both big and small, are because of my Savior and his desire for us to be happy and cherish the things that matter. Life is so, so good and I am grateful for every second of it, and the fact that because of him and his victory over death, this never has to end. Happy Easter everyone!

We have sprung for spring! Perhaps a bit early, but when you live by beaches, sunshine and beautiful cliffs, its a bit hard to keep that Spring rejuvenation feeling at bay.

Isn't it funny how right when you think you've got things figured out, you get a thrown a curve ball? I blogged throughout my pregnancy with Addy quite a bit, and thought I had things figured out. But of course this one is different-in some ways better, in some ways worse. She is doing her own thing. I wanted to take a second to record some of those differences for memories sake.

This Monday, the stars aligned and Lester was off work and my sister Sam was off school-so we took advantage of it and decided to take her prom dress shopping!

She had gone a few times before, but hadn't had luck so far so we decided to make a whole day of it. Its funny, bc a few years ago, if someone had told me to 'shop till you drop' I would have done just that and loved it. But I'll admit, when it is with kids in tow in the rain and pregnant, it does make it a bit more interesting. Still, the four of us had a lot of fun watching her try on dress after dress,  stopping for food and enjoying the sights the city has to offer.

In the end we were successful and Lester pulled a dress that makes her look like the beautiful 18 year old she is, inside and out; one that we never would have pulled originally, but are glad he thought of.  So I'm glad we were able to be there for that. I still can't believe she is old enough to be going to prom and graduating high school-she is a special young lady and headed for great things we are sure!