it's a...

baby jones is going to be a girl! i'm going to have a niece. good thing that i've already signed up for my smocking class that starts in february. looks like i'll have just enough time to get started on something to have for her to come home from the hospital in.

merry christmas

it's official...

i'm going to be an aunt (from my side of the family)!! my sister and brother in law found out right after my mom' party that they are expecting their first child. i had to keep it a secret for a few days until they were able to share the news with my parents. then we all had to keep it a secret until today. now that my grandmother knows, we are letting everyone know. baby jones is due on may 29, 2010. the day before my sister turns 28. the week after my brother in law graduates from seminary. we find out what they are having at the end of december. we are all excited about this next adventure for them. can't wait to wrap my arms around that chubby little thing!

this is how she told me...

this is how they told my parents...

Fabulous at Fifty :: Part Five

The day is finally here! As you see the cake above, it matched the invitations perfectly and was wonderful. The decorations were so cute but those pictures are on another computer. I'll see what I can do about finding them. We enjoyed breakfast as a family before the guys headed to play golf and the girls got busy on the set up for the party. Mom was glowing all day and so excited about her big night. All 6 of us had haircuts that afternoon and took over the "beauty shop" while getting ready. Had to look good for family portraits. :)

Doesn't Mom look beautiful?!?!

The night was perfect. Food was wonderful. Band was great as always. But the memories and time together were priceless!

HAPPY 50th, MOM!

Fabulous at Fifty :: Part Four

We searched hard to find the perfect gift for the woman turning 50. We knew that she didn't need a mother's ring but we wanted to do something just as special. I remembered how much I loved Lisa Leonard's necklaces and thought that this might be the perfect solution. One online shopping spree with my sister and we were set. It turned out perfect!

San Diego :: Day Four

We enjoyed breakfast at Pannikin in Encinitas. It's one of the bands' favorite places to get coffee and breakfast so Taylor and I took the time to enjoy it, too.

We spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying some time on the water in La Jolla. We rented kayaks from La Jolla Kayak and paddled out to the caves. Incredible! It was foggy all afternoon but still a beautiful experience.

This post is the end to our wonderful vacation in San Diego. Needless to say, I loved every minute of it and would pack my bags and all of our belongings to pick up and move here if it wasn't so far away from everyone and everything that I know. We do plan on visiting again, and I plan on it being often!

San Diego :: Day Three

We took a drive up the coast to get a look at this...

And watch the sunset at Cardiff-by-the-Sea

San Diego :: Day Two (continued)

We decided on a night downtown at the Gaslamp District for dinner. After walking around forever, we finally decided on this place...

It's not what it seems. You order the cut of meat then they bring the meat to you, for you to then cook at one of the grills. You have seasonings to choose from and are able to cook it just to your liking. Truly one of the most unique places that I've ever been to eat and loved the concept behind it all.

It was so good and such a different experience. Our second day here was wonderful! Makes me think that we really could just move out here.. but a little too far from all things that we call "home". It's nice to dream though, because we sure have enjoyed doing that!

San Diego :: Day Two

Monday morning in San Diego started bright and early. I spent an hour by the pool before getting ready to leave for the day. We went to breakfast at one of the restaurants on the resort. It has beautiful view of the bay and some of the most amazing french toast! We spent an hour eating our breakfast and enjoying the view before getting in our rental car to start our first adventure!

We spent our day here...

and it was one of the most amazing places to see! It was so much bigger than either one of us expected and we walked, walked and walked some more.

Then we finally decided to jump onto the Skyfari and headed back to our car.

Today will be one of the highlights of our trip.. although we know that we could have easily spent two full days exploring the zoo. Now to find something fun to do for dinner...

San Diego :: Day One

After a delayed flight leaving from the Montgomery Airport early this morning and catching my connection at the Memphis Airport, I arrived in San Diego 20 minutes after Taylor had landed from Ohio. So thankful to see him standing there when I walked off the plane and really excited about the days ahead!

We headed to get the rental car from Enterprise. While waiting on our name to be called we Taylor recognized someone else standing in line. The son of Dog the Bounty Hunter.

We went straight to the nearest In-N-Out Burger to get something to eat before coming to the hotel to check in. We love the hotel. We searched online for weeks to decide on where to stay. Paradise Point is in the perfect location, Mission Bay. Our room is amazing and the view out on the patio is worth every penny! This hotel will probably be where we decide to stay on our future trips to the San Diego area... which I'm already hoping will not be too far into the future.

After traveling for most of the day, Taylor voted to take a nap and I decided it was the perfect time to go to the pool. There are 5 pools on the resort and one right outside of our room. This is my idea of a vacation. I think that I will be returning here more than once over the next few days! I could get used to every second of this weather, too. I think that I might finally realize why this is Taylor's favorite city to visit.

Since all of the Switchfoot guys are from the San Diego area, Taylor already has so many ideas on where we could eat, beaches that we should visit and shops to hit up. So dinner tonight was definetly one of his favorite. We went to a Mexican restuarant in Oceanside tonight and drove around exploring a little bit. I can already tell that this is going to be a very memorable trip!