Whew! What a weekend!!

We had a busy, but *great* weekend!!

Saturday morning we all woke up and went to the North Carolina State Farmer's Market. *Love* that place!! We bought a lot of fruits, veggies, and the best homemade baguette! Yummm! I brought my camera along to the Farmer's Market, and took some pictures of the great produce! The fruits and veggies (and bread) look fantastic and taste even better!! It's always a team effort picking everthing out... And this is the reason I hate cooking, don't usually have to cook, and why my wonderful husband cooks 95% of our meals....

Brushetta Caprese

Chicken Caprese Salad

Baked Spinach & Cheese Ravioli

You see? See why my husband cooks? I cook *average* homemaker meals, but he makes GOURMET! I choose gourmet please! :) My husband is a fabulous cook, and really should consider opening a restaurant someday! :) I am a good baker, so, honey... when you open this alleged restaurant someday, I will make all the desserts. :) LOL. So, the above... that was our dinner last night. :) Yum. Made so lovingly by my handsome hubby!

To see more of my pictures, click here.

Anyway. After the farmer's market, we went hiking a little bit (pictures I took while hiking are below)...

ROBIN... you asked me to photograph a leaf for you... does this work? ...

and then we took Angelina to the mall, and... she got her EARS PIERCED!!! Pictures coming soon! She was *so* brave!! Immediately following that, Angelina and Zoe spent the night at grandma and papa's house (my parents). Mike and I had a date night. I absolutely *love* date night!! We went to a place called Five Guys Burgers & Fries... best burgers EVER!!! Better than In N Out hands down! Then we went to R.E.I. to get a hiking backpack for Mike to carry Zoe in. Went to Starbucks, came back home, and relaxed. :) It was nice.

Sunday, I slept in while Mike mowed the front and side yard.
The back will be finished when this 100 degree and 90% humidity weather goes away! :) Living in NC, it can be hard to get the yard mowed in under 2-3 hours. And that is ONLY mowing. :) I got up and watered some plants, and ended up spending the majority of the day outside while Angelina played with some friends on the slip n slide, and wading pool. It was was TOO hot!! But, I ran through the sprinklers on occasion with Angelina to cool off. ha ha! Zoe napped most of the afternoon. Then Mike made that amazing dinner, we gave the girls baths, they went to bed, and we chilled out! :)

And... this is why I can't stand Japanese Beetles!! Look what they did to my hibiscus' leaves!

Friday Zoe decided to add to the list of things that she can do... she can now go from the crawling position straight to the sitting position! BIG milestone! :) I was a very shocked and proud mama! :) You go Zoe. Mike keeps swearing that she said *Dada* this morning, but I am not so sure. ha ha! We'll see if she says it again. Zoe's 2 teeth are coming in like crazy! She shoved my finger in her mouth earlier, bit down, and for the first time I yelled "YOW!" She looked at me with a perplexed look, and laughed. ha ha.

Here are some pictures of my girlies from the weekend. :)

Hiking.

Zoe looking a lot like Mike in the below picture...

And, this is only half the bags from the Farmer's Market! :)

Just after eating her breakfast this morning. She had Beech Nut's "Good Morning: Country Breakfast". And, of course... loved it!

Buying mommy flowers at the farmer's market

Looking adorable... as usual!

Lashes.

A blanket in AUGUST!?!

.2 California *n* Back.

We got back from our trip out to Cali on Saturday night late. Been getting back into the swing of things. Aren't you amazed that it has been a WHOLE WEEK since my last post? I am kinda OCD when it comes to blogging, so going an entire week with no post is pretty incredible. Not that everyone out there is waiting on the edges of their seats for me to post a new entry. lol.

Anyway. Our trip to California was really short, but a lot of fun! Wish I could have seen more of my old friends while out there, but I am guessing most were unavailable or out of town since I only heard from a couple people. :( Maybe next time, though.
We arrived in Cali on Wednesday at 4:00pm and went to dinner at Lucille's Smokehouse Bar B Que in Brea (YUM YUM YUM! If you haven't gone... you are TOTALLY missing out!). Their BBQ *rocks*! We meet Mike's great aunt and uncle there. We haven't seen them in over 2 years!! It was *so* great to see them!!! I would say that I was posting pictures of our dinner with them, but I ERASED MY MEMORY CARD from that night!!! I cried! :( So sad! Just remember to verify that you aren't telling your camera (DSLR Camera) to format... Format = Erase which = BAD BAD BAD! Thanks for dinner Jack and Jan!! It was so wonderful to see you!
Thursday was my only free day! And it was only free during the day. So, I meet my friend Nikki and her husband for lunch. Nikki and I haven't seen each other since Angelina was *3 weeks old*!!! Whoa! It was SO great to see her! Since seeing her, she has gotten married, and had a baby girl (Hailey) who is a month younger than Zoe. They got to meet each other. It was a typical meeting for babies. They stared at each other for several minutes, and then when on to whatever else distracted them. LOL. Hailey is so cute Nikki! :)
After lunch, the girls and I drove to the beach. It was nice! Zoe *loved* the water! As soon as she saw the ocean, and heard the waves crashing, she couldn't stop staring at it. I put her feet in the water, and she giggled, and smiled the whole time. Angelina looked for seashells and got soaking wet. After the beach, we drove around for a bit. I showed Angelina my parents' old house, where I went to high school, the park she used to play at with grandma and papa all the time, the hospital she was born at (Mission Hospital), and I was even able to show her the apartment Mike and I had while I was pregnant with her, and told her that she lived there for 1 week of her life. :) It was neat to *drive* down memory lane. :) Thursday night, we went to Mike's oldest daughter, Samantha's dance recital. She takes tap dancing. She did really great. Angelina was ecstatic!! Angelina hadn't seen Sam in more than 2 years. After Sam's recital, we went to Buca di Beppo for dinner, and then went back to our hotel.
Friday we surprised Sam. We picked her up, and told her we were taking her to.... DISNEYLAND!! What a day! It was exciting, fun, and tiring! :) Angelina went on *every* ride there!! First time she has shown interest in going on rides. She even went on Splash Mountain, and promptly decided while crying that she would *never* go on that ride again! Ha ha! She even went on Space Mountain, and *loved* it!! I was pretty amazed! :) Zoe went on a couple of rides too! She went on Snow White's Scary Adventure, Small World, and Pirates of the Caribbean. She loved all of the rides! It was so cute to see her laughing during each ride. The look on her face was cute too. She was amazed at everything going on. :) So, needless to say, everyone had a great time!
Saturday morning we meet Sam and her mom for breakfast, and then headed to the airport to come home. It was a whirlwind trip, but it was full of fun! :)

So... Zoe's bottom front teeth *finally* poked through the skin!! YAY! She has been a tad bit cranky, so I figured it was time the teeth came through, and we discovered them Saturday night! :) She wasn't as cranky as Angelina used to get, but she was a bit cranky on the airplane, which made it a little tough for Mike, because she wasn't wanting to relax. My husband is so wonderful! He got upgraded to first class, and once again let me take it! So I got to sit in first class. :) Thanks babe! All in all, both children were fabulous! I flew alone with both kids from NC to Cali, so I was a bit stressed, but we made it! :)

Being in California made me realize how much I do not miss it there. The amount of time it takes to get places at 5pm or 8am is absolutely insane! I had forgotten just how terrible the traffic is. Our hotel was 11 miles from Mike's office, and it literally took us 1 hour or more to get from one to the other. Ridiculous! It's crowded, and stressful. But, we still had fun. But I wouldn't want to live there again.

Anyway, Mike and I are watching a movie. Will write more later. ;) night. Below are picture #'s 64-70.

Pictures from up in the air.

So many houses crammed together in Cali. (taken from the plane)

Her first ear hat!! It also says "Zoe" on the back. :) Thanks Daddy!

Where'd you go Zoe?

Daddy Kisses!!

Trying to pull out the sword in the stone. :)

Angelina and Sam at Disneyland together. :) SO cute!

Beauty.

In line at Pirates of the Caribbean.

Getting dizzy on the teacup ride.

Disneyland makes babies tired!

Angelina playing at the ocean's edge.

Finding Seashells.

Happy at the beach.

First time at the beach, and *loving* it! Little toes in the water.

Can't take her eyes off the ocean. :)

Water's Edge.

.The Pacific.

Tire Swingin'.

I often wonder what she is thinking...

::Downtown Raleigh::, Days {58-63}, *The Kite Runner*

Our weekend was *really* fun! Friday night Angelina and Zoe spent the night at my parent's house, which left me a night to myself... AWESOME!! I went to Archiver's and scrapbooked!! Yay! Saturday morning I went and picked Mike up from the airport, and we then came home, and napped. Which was awesome, considering how tired I suddenly was when Mike got in the car. It's weird. I am an insomniac when he isn't home, and I can't seem to fall asleep. But, as soon as I see Mike standing at the curb outside of the airport, a sense of relief comes over me. My husband is my security. When he is home, I feel secure. I feel happy. Our family is complete... even if only for a couple of days. :)

After we napped, we meet my parents and our children in Downtown Raleigh. They were having a street fair called "Raleigh Wide Open". We had a lot of fun! The weather has been phenomenal for the past several days, which is so wonderful!! Not to mention *so* rare! Anyway. Here are some photos I took during Raleigh Wide Open! It is getting late, and I need to *try* and get some sleep. Mike left really early this morning for California. The girls and I leave for California on Wednesday late morning to join Mike, and to visit some friends and family while out there, so we are really looking forward to that. :) I am currently watching the movie Elizabethtown, which is turning out to be a great movie!! :) Check it out if you haven't seen it.

More tomorrow! ;)

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***Oh, and by the way... I finished The Kite Runner. OK. This book is high up on my *must read* book list!! What an excellent book!! The writer is very descriptive. I mean, I could actually envision things. I love that. Love that I can feel like I was there. There are sad parts in this book, but overall, it was excellent!! I can't wait to read his next book, "A Thousand Splendid Suns".***