Christmas Tree Decorating

Thanksgiving on a Train

Our First Vacation Without Marley...

To say that Michael was excited is a bit of an understatement! For our first sans Marley vacation we went to Sonoma County to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary. I love wine and Michael loves beer, so we went where we would both happy, to just eat, drink and be married!! Although we both missed Marley, we managed to have a good time anyway!

Russian River is Mike's FAVORITE brewery, and to actually be there drinking his favorite beer from the source was like drinking from the fountain of youth...or something like that!Oh sweet nectar...
All the vines, just here at home, are changing color! It was beautiful!!
Kendal Jackson, wine and cheese pairing! Yumm!!

Race for the Cure

My mom, Marley's Gramma, has bravely and gracefully defeated breast cancer twice. To honor her and her strength, the three of us walked the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure 5K in San Diego. Marley was a total trooper, and clearly the winner!
He and Dad walked triumphantly!
We all wore signs on our back to celebrate Mom and her victorious battle!
It was so amazing to see how many people came out to celebrate and honor everyone who has been affected by breast cancer. All proceeds from this race went to the men and women in San Diego who are battling breast cancer without the health care. I couldn't even imagine having to choose between treatments or paying the mortgage. I am glad that we were able to help, even if it was a small gesture.

Race for the Cure

A Day Out With Thomas

If you know Marley, then you know he loves Thomas the Train...and by love, I mean is totally and completely OBSESSED with him! I don't know what it is, because quite frankly I find the show to be a total bore, but it started with Marley before he could even talk. When Mike would get ready for work in the mornings, he would put Marley in his high chair with some food and plop him in front of PBS for a bit so he could get dressed, etc. The first time Thomas came on he freaked out when Mike tried to turn it off! He was screaming!! Total Thomas fit...and it hasn't let up since! So...when Thomas comes to town and we can go see him, and take a ride on him, we don't miss that opportunity. Last year Papa came with us, this year it was just Marley and Michael (I was home with food poisoning). And THIS is the face of a very happy Marley!!

Meeting Sir Topham Hat, or as Michael calls him Sir Topham Hot Spurs, I prefer Sir Topham Hot Pants myself, but whatevs...
Heading out to the Big Easy on a trolly...

Steam engine...pay no mind to the "No Climbing" sign on the platform that he is sitting on...little rebel!!

Mesmerized by a new Thomas movie. Michael said he thought the kids sitting next to Marley were Ethiopian!!
Getting his Thomas tattoo!
Thomas is in the background, this is the train they rode on! On a side note, I think Marley looks so handsome in this picture! I know I am biased, but he may be the best looking boy in the world...look out ladies!!
All aboard! Waiting for the train, they have their boarding passes!!

On the train!!

The Punkin Patch

I don't think I have ever been to a proper pumpkin patch, perhaps when I was a kid, but I don't think Tucson is a punkin patch kind of town...maybe it was, I can't remember! But here in Temecula, we have many punkin patches to choose from. When we moved here last year it was the week before Halloween and we weren't full able to enjoy all of the festivities. So this year we made sure to partake in the fun!The Stew Miller punkin patch is literally right down the street and Marley got to go twice, once with us and once with his school. We got to pet sheep, bunnies and tried to pet this funky chickens with crazy feathers (and yes, they were shakin' 'em). I love living here SO much, it's such an awesome small town vibe, but totally diverse and an hour from three major cities!
We met Marley's BFF Ronnie for bouncy house fun! I love this picture of Marley's hair!!
And this hair pic is pretty cool too! Marley and Ronnie got to go in the bouncy house and some blow up slide/obstacle course madness...they were able to go through several times on one ticket....I'm sure it's because they mesmerized the ticket chic with their absolute cuteness!

Camping with Daddy

The first weekend in October I went to Big Bear for a girls' weekend and Mike and Marley went camping at Lake Skinner with the kids and hubbies who were left behind. It was Marley's first camping trip, and I think MIke's 4th, and they did awesome!! First ones to get their tent set up!

All the kids and a dog!


Nothing says camping like a campfire! His hair smelled like campfire the next day!

Super Star

I ran across these as I was uploading some new photos...these were taken over the summer and just crack me up!!

Sid the Science Kid!!

Today we went up to LA to the California Science Center to meet Sid the Science Kid. Sid is on PBS and one of a very small handful of shows we let Marley watch because it is pretty educational. Sid and his 3 other classmates (wonder how much tuition is at that school) "Investigate, something else I can't remember, and Explore" many different topics including why Sid can't stay at home and watch TV all weekend and why it always rains when Sid has a play date planned. The show also has some pretty cool tunes including, my favorite which is sung on his way to school..."I love my Mom...uh-huh....My mom is cool....uh-huh....but now it's time for having fun in school!!"
So when we found out that Sid was going to be in LA we knew we had to go!! What we didn't know was that the entire county of LA would be there as well! Poor Mike stood in line for over an hour in the 100* heat while Marley and I took cover in the shade and Marley tried his best to hoola-hoop.

Once we got in, the line situation only got worse. There were three shows we could've seen: a sneak preview at a new episode, a family sing along and the meet Sid and take a picture show. Had we waited in line to actually have Marley's picture taken it probably would've been at least another hour...so we went the more...shall we say...economical approach and jumped behind some tables to have our picture taken "Near" Sid...almost the same right?!?!

I am pretty sure Marley is making fun of the fact that my upper lip disappears when I smile in the above picture....rude!!
He was pretty psyched despite not getting to "hold Sid"...and we got access to all the other exhibits, except for the Mummy exhibit! Marley saw a picture of a mummy and asked Mike "is that Egypt Daddy?" How smart is my little scientist?!?


A good long day was had by all....it's almost 6 and he's still crashed out on the couch!!