city-by-the-sea

This last weekend we packed up and headed to Carmel, California, the "city-by-the-sea". As many know and some don't know, Seth is a lover of golf. When he found out the US Open was at his favorite golf course, Pebble Beach, he knew he had to go. I had never been to Carmel so it was an exciting adventure. We always travel by night as to try and keep the munchkin asleep. It was a long drive, VERY LOOOOONNNGG drive.

We got there around noon, checked into our campsite. (Anything close or in Carmel was more than we wanted to spend for a one night stay in a hotel.)
Then we met up with one of Seth's long time friends, Brad and his wife, Katie for lunch and then headed down to the beach.

It was cold.

Pebble Beach golf course in the background.

We spent most of our time on the beach trying to catch glimpses of the golfers on the course, and of course, taking pictures. Brad and Katie were happy to be my models :)

After the beach, we headed to tour the mission but it was closed, so I took pictures of the Hagens scaling walls to take pictures :)

This is the only picture I took of our camping adventure. It was freezing. Let me rephrase that, I WAS FREEZING. Seth said it wasn't cold but it was super windy. The view was awesome, but once again I was too cold to take any pictures. We set up the tent then sat in our car eating cup of noodles and PBJ sandwiches. We were exhausted from the night before so we went to bed quite early. I thought Warren wasn't going to do so well, but we suited him up for the cold and he did alright.

Ok, I lied, I took this picture too.

Next morning, I dropped off Seth for the day, then met up with Katie to have a girls day out.

First stop: Point Lobos. It was a beautiful walk and came out to a few different points that you could choose to venture out on.

Can you find the seals?

Second Stop: Lunch at the beach.
This was Rens first experience with sand. I thought it was gonna be one and done. One hand in the sand and then straight to the mouth. Surprisingly his hand didn't come near his mouth. He just dug his hands in then pulled the sand up onto his lap like two little rakes. He was loving it and was concerned about nothing more than this new found treasure.

While Warren played in the sand, Katie I enjoyed a little of this.


Third Stop: Gilroy Outlets. I really love outlet malls and this one was GI-NORM. I don't know if we even made it through half the stores. I've never "hated" shopping, but as each year passes I loose a little love for the sport and it doesn't help when the little is tired/hungry/tries to pull all the clothes off hangers/wants to be held instead of sit in his stroller. None-the-less I managed to come away with a few little gems. Sorry, no pictures. I couldn't quite juggle the camera.

We then headed back to Carmel in hopes our lost hubbies would want to be found. Nope. So again, we went to the cold beach and watched the sunset without our men. Well, I take that back, Ren was our man :)

Our original plan was to just drive home to Utah Saturday night, but we decided it wasn't the smartest so we drove to one of my best friends/old roommate apt in Sacramento and crashed for the night. Thanks again Ran!

Sunday we began the LLLOOOONNNGG journey home. We were stuck in the Sierra Nevadas for about 2 hours in construction. We managed to enjoy the scenery though and hop out for some fun pictures. Only 2 blowouts, not too bad ;)

The ride home was filled with:

this............................................. this............................................ and this


and a lot of this:

ellsworth milestones

Last week we survived our first full week apart. Seth went on an almost deathly canoe trip and Warren and I tagged along with my mom home to WA. Seth had fun, but said he was stretched beyond his comfort zone. He's not a fan of things where you can't control all the elements. ex: A canoe on very fast moving water and rapids.
I think our lil stinker bug knows when daddy's gone, he's a little bit more on edge. It was a cute reunion for the two. Ren was all smiles when daddy walked through the door. (I was too, but Warren isn't quite strong enough to hold the camera yet ;) )

While home, Warren just all the sudden decided he liked to see the world from sitting upright and he was gonna do it all on his own with a model pose thrown in every now and then. See ya later bumbo.

He also cut his first two teefies. Parents should get money under their pillow when their babies get teeth- wasn't the happiest week. You can kinda see the tops of his pearly whites.

Carrots were added to his diet and by the looks of it, I think he liked it!

Shanae and I have been swapping clothes. I was pregnant so I got all the fat ones and she took the normal ones. We both gain the extra love in the exact same places and we don't just gain the recommended 35-45 for our height. I was ringing in at an additional 65 lbs people, she's a normal 50-60 lb gain-age, also. There was a certain pair of jeans she had in her possession that are the smallest I've ever bought and were just a little snug but so cute and on super sale, but now that she's almost to her 2nd trimester I got them back. I was scared to try them on but......THEY FIT! Nevermind that I still am spilling over the front but THEY FIT and better than when I purchased them:) I was so happy I've almost worn them every day since!

photo credit: Shanae Jones Photography :)

and.... I learned to fly.

photo credit: Shanae Jones Photography :)

ha ha (long story to this photo, but had to add it cuz we were cracking up while taking these)

the land that i love

I was able to go home this passed week. I love going home. I love the openness, country smells, fields, and calmness. My mom asked me to go on a walk, farther than I wanted I'll admit, but I'm glad we did. It was a gorgeous day with awesome looking clouds. Brought my camera along and was able to capture the beauty that I grew up around and wanted to share it.

Enjoy... I sure do :)

erika bridals

Can you say photogenic?! Beautiful bride to be! CLICK on over.

kelsi jean

One of my friends let me take some photos of her precious little newborn, a week old. I forget how fast they grow up! You know the drill, click HERE to see more:)