Our Wyoming and Utah vacation

I have been dying to visit Wyoming and basically invited ourselves to my friend's cabin! (Right, A?) It was so perfectly timed that we were able to spend a couple of days in Thayne, Wyoming and then drive just an hour to Bear Lake in Utah for Steve's family reunion.

To start our vacation off right, we took a plane ride to Phoenix, where Sebi threw up on me three times, waited in the Phoenix airport until 1 am because of a broken plane and touched ground in SLC at 2:30 am with throw up all over me and Sebi/Steve on their way with the stomach flu. Given the length of time of my throw up exposure, I was doomed... I woke up the next morning with stomach pains and aches only a flu can give. Even though we tried to keep our distance, we managed to not only infect Steve's sister, who then infected her mom, and the rest of 8 other family members, but every single one of our friends' family members in Wyoming! We felt so bad... what the? I guess we should have invested in face masks?

Aside from sickness, we honestly had a fabulous time including hours of just lounging in the sun watching the alfalfa grow, throwing rocks, horse back riding, kayaking, eating, talking, roasting marshmallows, dipping in the hot tub a couple of times a day... it was extremely relaxing and went by way to fast.

These photos uploaded totally out of order, but it's all here!

 We went on a great hike in the mountains surrounding bear lake... the hike was only 1 mile, perfect for the kids.

 Maddie and her cousin collected a bunch of caterpillars...

 The hiking clan.

 And a little friend.

 Bear lake can't be left without a shake.

 Back to Wyoming- this was our view from the cabin. I just love looking for miles and miles without anything but farmland... there is something therapeutic about it.

 Our clan went horseback riding without the husbands- thanks to them, we could go without the little ones. Bucket list- I want a horse. Really bad.

 Emilie wasn't scared at all! She mounted that enormous horse with a smile to match!

 Another natural... this horse was a little on the wild side, so one of the cowboys had to hold her horse on our ride, which Maddie wasn't too happy about- but it was better than being kicked off!

 Did I mention that I want a horse?

 I love crossing rivers on horse back- so cool.

 City slickers trying to roast some marshmallows..

 On our way to kayaking, we naturally hit some cow traffic. Some ranchers were herding cows for 10 miles up the road, and luckily they parted them so we could get through :)

 We have never driven so close to cows before. They practically had their heads in our window!

 MOOOOOOO.

 The lake we drove to was perfect- the kids had a blast on all the boats/kayaks...

 Sebi seemed to enjoy himself, even though it was a bit exhausting to keep him away from the water, ants, dirt, etc. Camping with kids ain't so relaxing.

 Off to bear lake- we rented a ski jet and paddle board- so much fun!

 The beach at Rendezvous beach at Bear lake... kind of muddy, but the kids still loved it.

 Steve's family rented an awesome house on the beach- very cape cod like- I loved it. I dare say it made me like bear lake... there is sometime about a shower, a bed, fridge and hot tub that does wonders.

 This girl asked me to be in the hot tub every morning, afternoon and night. Who could blame her?

 Emilie just took to her little cousin- who knew? I'm not sure he liked being dragged around, but it was adorable!

 These little grumpy ol' men are a couple of months apart.

 Don't they look similar?

 Good times, right J?

 These two cuties were tied to the hip. My favorite Emilie quote, "Mom, I just love my new friend." Emilie! You are so lucky! She's not just your friend, she's your cousin!

 The clan during a dinner.

 The entire family minus N.... we missed you!

 An attempt to get a pic of the three little cousins.

 Bear lake with a long exposure.

 Long exposure, sky.

 Cool shot right? Thanks to P! This is at night!

 BFF and E.

We had a super great time. Can't wait for the next one!

Random summer days...

Summer is all about embracing randomness. We drove down to Gilroy picked berries, hung out on the Santa Clara campus and showed my kids where I went to school, made some new recipes... I for one can't wait for more summer days!

 Some Thai recipe I found... really good.

 Trying out a gluten free lunch place- not bad!

 Santa Clara U grass.

 Gizditch.

 I couldn't stand how good these sandwiches looked, so yes, I ate. The forbidden fruit. Ahh. I have no self control.

 He just started pushing stuff around- it is great-- I hope this means he's close to walking??

 Super cute Emi in her tent grandma made for Christmas... until she found a "pincher" bug!

 Zahra's wedding... she looked beautiful, and we were sooo happy for her.

Definitely need to hit this place a couple of more times this season.

A Sunnyvale Craft Fair

Aside from the massive exodus of people leaving our area in search of a more affordable housing, California is a paradise in terms of opportunity, weather, culture, food, diversity, people etc. We went to the Sunnyvale craft fair a couple of weeks ago, and had such a great time- I have never seen anything like it. The entire day and center was devoted to kids crafts- and nothing else. We had a blast making tie snakes, masks, dolls, jellyfish, dancing on the stage, balloon crafts, swords and wands, trees...

Turns out Steve is a very talented wand maker...

Sebastian's Court Date!!!

Well, it has been a really long time in waiting, but we finally finalized Sebastian's adoption! Whoo hoo. The process was surprisingly short- but so sweet. We drove to the San Jose courthouse and waited with a room of adopting families. When our name was called, we walked into the judge's chambers, and pledged our oath to be Sebastian's parents, and it was done! The judge/clerks were so nice, and had presents for the kids. It was a great day... the kids took the day off from school and we had lunch together.

We celebrated with pizza at Amici's- and I think Sebastian was super happy!

A quick pic outside the courthouse. We have been so lucky/blessed to have this little guy in our lives. It is almost surreal how perfect it all turned out- he is a true answer to our prayers in every way. Sometime/somewhere it will be great to see the master blue print of this life! It does sound cheeky- but it does feel like it was meant to be...

Maddie's last days of Kindergarten, first focus and soccer!

We are really proud of this girl. During her last week of kindergarten, her class performed for the parents with some songs including our favorite- zip a dee doo da lyric - "Zip a dee doo da, zip a dee day, my oh my first grade's coming my way." Every time she sang this, I had to swallow back tears! What is wrong with me?  Life is going by fast, and I know it will just keep on going faster. Maddie was a star in kindergarten this year and excelled in everything- she loves reading, math and is making lots of friends. I joke with my kids that I'm going to lock them up in the attic and never let them out- it is sometimes painful to see them grow so fast.

 We also ended another season of soccer- we had the youngest team in the league but won most of our games- pretty impressive. Maddie is definitely the best goalie on the team and has great offensive instincts. We celebrated our season with a picnic at the park with some medals. Even though it is a hurdle to get out Saturday mornings, we have missed watching her play since it's been out.

And, last but not least, Maddie finished her reading program "First Focus." I have a million positive things to say about this program- it has been close to two years of classes every week, but she graduated and is now an amazing reader. She loves reading Nancy Drew, the Tree House Series, and the Babysitters club (ah! I read every one of those too!). I am super excited to read more with her this summer... congratulations Madeleine- we love you!!

Mothers Day and Alie's Birthday

May is a sweet month for me- you can't beat celebrating mother's day and my birthday in the same month. For mothers day, we went out for Mexican at my second favorite stop, and finished up with gluten free cupcakes...

 Mexican and Italian are two of my favorite foods- a close tie. I love this Mexican place because of their home made tortillas- soooo good. We kept on asking for more and more...

 And, of course Mole- love it. All types.

 Good times.

On our way to cupcakes...

For my birthday, I decided to get a bike- which was no small feat. After about a month of doing research, I decided on buying a "dutch bike," given their durability and just practicality in life. It's a beautiful bike- with a hefty price tag... but I love it. I got it at "a Street Bike Named Desire" in Palo Alto... and they put me on their website:

hee hee. Steve also got a very beautiful bike, but a mountain bike... and we have LOVED biking around. We went to the coast on my birthday, picked berries, went biking, hit the boardwalk in santa cruz, had dinner, and celebrated with strawberry shortcake with our berries. It was a great day:

 We usually go berry picking to Gizditch, but we decided to try something different. It was an off day in terms of weather, so it was a little cold, but I definitely want to try it again sometime soon when it's warmer- that is, maybe next year? They said they were almost already picked out when we went...

 We biked around a state park on the beach, and it was beautiful... I could have gone for hours, but Sebastian wasn't really liking how he couldn't take a nap. Even though the two seater setup is pretty sweet, it's not perfect!

 This place was super yummy- it was the best place on yelp in santa cruz...

Strawberry shortcake- also one of my favorite foods.

A couple of days later, my awesome friends took me out to dinner at Cheesecake factory to celebrate with another's friends' birthday... these are their beautiful faces:

 And beautiful flowers and lunch from my awesome friend J....

It was a great month!!!

Emilie's last days at school

This year we tried a new preschool and were really happy with it. This was Emilie's class- she met a lot of new friends and had a great time. Of course I'm partial, but she is pretty cute! One of my favorite things about this preschool was the concerts they gave the parents every holiday- it was one of the highlights of my year to see her sing new songs.

Chilling out after one of her performances..

 This pic is sooo funny! It has nothing to do with school, but everything to do with clean teeth and I couldn't fit it in anywhere else ;) Unlike her sister who hasn't been brushing super great, this one had an A on her brushing (of course because we are still helping her.)