This weekend: Heat waves, promotions and celebrations

This weekend was the Lovely Kim's Bridal Shower. She's going to be such a radiant bride!

And the Black Belt promotion. This is a pretty good group picture after the testing.

Two brown belt promotions and two new Black Belts. They really earned it, it was a great test! Danny (third from left) is my inspiration.
Great Job Danny!

Flavor Savor

Dan and I met up with John and Heather and Destini and Scott for the annual Stroll and Savor in Belmont Shores. Well, it's annual, but it's also monthly for the summer months. It was my first time doing it. It was the best hanging out with four of our most favorite people !

My girl Destiny and Scotty
So you buy this book of 12 tickets for $10 and you go from restaurant to restaurant and exchange these tix for food. It's a great way to sample all kinds of foods off these places menus and you get a pretty good idea of where you'd like to come back to and eat more... The portions were big enough to get REALLY full by the end of the stroll, though!
At the end of the night... still had 2 tix left and could not eat another bite! It was a delicious and fun night. I love summer.

The cat traps are working

I was laughing so hard when I was this picture...


And now I know it's not just MY cats that are crazy and will sit in any and all boxes you put down

I even did this experient, and brought in smaller and smaller boxes and sure enough, Coco went and sat in each one, even as it got smaller. The smallest box I brought it, she just sat on it.
Cats provide hours of free entertainment.

Camping in Pismo beach

Introducing baby Jacob. Mom and I took a girls trip up to Pismo Beach to meet up with the Roddas, Amie, James, Lizzie and little Jacob and the rest of the Roddas.

This was my first time meeting little Jacob since he was born. He is just adorable. And so mellow!
Ames and I take a walk on the beach after sunset...
Mommy and I!
Amie and Lizzie. She just keeps getting cuter
I was holding Jacob and out of the blue he just reached down and sorta tapped my belly and then just rested his little hand there. It was so funny and so cute, like he was giving his "cousin" a little high five!
Gradpa Rodda and Lizzie and Jacob. The Roddas are just awesome people. Thanks for inviting us to your camp!

Celebration weekend

This weekend we celebrated some good friends...

First, it was Jason's big 4-0 Bday party. Jason and Lisa have been friends with Dan since they were kids. It is so nice to see these friendships. I love ALL of Dan's friends! Which of course, I have claimed as my own now. Lucky me!

Here you can see how the boys are affected by their age... 4-0 going on 4-teen. I love it!

Lisa is amazing. I have always liked her and every time I see her it's a blast and a pleasure.
The boys of summer. Friends since Highschool, and very little changed.

Me and my two boys... my husband and my bump!

The next day I attended my dear friend Monika's Bridal Shower. It was so nice but I only took like 3 pictures. Great food and everyone I met there was super sweet. She is going to be such a radiant bride (she's radiant in everything, including scrubs) and I can't wait to see her walk down that isle.

Mo and I after she opened up all her presents. Congrats!

Sherri Toole's Bday in Laguna Beach

I'm kindda lagging on my blog posts but it has been a helluva few weeks... this last post is from July 25th the weekend we celebrated Dan's mom's bday.

We took her to brunch at Las Brisas, which is one of both of our favorite places! We love this area in Laguna Beach. (somehow I didn't end up with a pic of all of us, Nancy?) Here's Dano and I very happy and full after a delicious late brunch.

The surf was awesome and huge.... a gorgeous day in So Cal!
After Las Brisas we went to celebrate yet another bday, Sherri's at the beachhouse in Laguna. It is a gorgeous location. We got to see John and Heather! Here they are posing just before sunset.
Dan and I decided that we could totally move HERE... what a great location!
The Bday girl, Sherri and her husband, Pat. They have been friends with Dan since Highschool!
Laguna Sunset
By the end of the night I was the only sober person there. I can't explain to you how much that can suck sometimes. Till I figured out that I could make myslef useful and keep occuppied by taking over the role of bartender. I actually had a lot more fun doing this than drinking (well, I keep telling myself that). I stayed back there till I ran out of most of the alcohol. You DON'T want to be behind the bar with people asking for drinks you don't HAVE... LOL


John and Dano. Still as cute after all these years... it's so sweet, they've been such good friends since they were kids!

Sweet Heather and I. LOVE this woman.
Dan and Pat and (forgot this guy's name...sorry) provided the entertainment
Heather, Sherri and I, bringing down the house
Happy Birthday Sherri! Thanks for having us... great party!

:)

Amber and Tyler's wedding reception

We were pretty excited to celebrate our friends' marriage (they got married in Arizona and this was another reception with all their local So Cal friends) and it was a really nice time. They are absolutely adorable.

The bride and groom, Tyler and Amber
The glowing Amber and I
"The boys." Chris, Jesse, Nick, Jeff, Tyler, Dano, Doug and baby Olivia and Ramon.
My man and I in the very cool orange lounge
Andrea (baby Olivia's mom) Junko, Christine and I on the Leopard Print stage.


As you can see, It seems I only have gorgeous friends...:)
I love this picture. Hilarious!
Congratulations, Amber and Tyler! We love you!